Houston finding an unlikely hero, Tennessee pursuing first Final Four add to intriguing Elite Eight matchup

Joseph Tugler will be remembered fondly after his pass led to the Cougars' last-second Sweet 16 win vs. Purdue

INDIANAPOLIS – It was the biggest pass of Joseph Tugler's life. In the end, it might be the biggest pass in Houston's basketball history.

"Instinctively instinctive," Cougars coach Kelvin Sampson called it. 

"Total improvisation," Houston assistant Kellen Sampson said. 

"I can't stop watching it, over and over again," Tugler's sister Elexar told CBS Sports.

WATCH: Houston's Milos Uzan hits last-second layup on inbounds play called '51' to beat Purdue in Sweet 16

David Cobb

No. 1 seed Houston is here in Sunday's Midwest Regional Final against No. 2 seed Tennessee largely because of Tugler. In case you weren't up in the early morning hours Saturday, the Cougars advanced to the Elite Eight over Purdue because of a game-winning basket by Milos Uzan with 0.9 seconds left.

But it was Tugler's pass that had the basketball cognoscente buzzing. With the game tied at 60, Uzan started by taking the ball out of bounds underneath Houston's basket with 1.8 seconds remaining. Leading scorer L.J. Cryer was covered, so the 6-foot-8, 230-pound Tugler sprinted down the lane to meet Uzan's pass. 

In an instant, Tugler caught the ball before immediately throwing a bounce pass for Uzan that was brilliant in its simplicity. A play had been drawn up. But it was Tugler's thinking in the moment that made it work.  

An incredible “chess match” on final play of @BoilerBall @UHCougarMBK game. The Cougars have a pet “late clock” play, but Purdue smells it out. Boilers’ Smith reacts to help teammate but gives up protecting hoop. @CoachSampsonUH adjusted to the adjustment. pic.twitter.com/jIMN9V9U8t

— Fran Fraschilla (@franfraschilla) March 29, 2025

So did his background. The play was those in-the-moment, no-think, all-instinct plays that are refined only when no one is looking. 

"He's the one guy on our team that's played on outdoor courts more than anybody," Kellen Sampson added. "Just a hooper … Jo has played more against … chained nets, double rims than anybody on our team." 

Until the eighth grade, Tugler had grown up in Monroe, Louisiana, and was brother to a pair of twin sisters nine years older than him. If they weren't dragging him to a gym to play against  "older men" according to Elexar, the kid they called "JoJo" was playing with and against his sisters' teams. Both Elexar and Alexar, now 33, played at Louisiana-Monroe. 

Their mother, Brenda or "Miss B," still holds the blocked shots record at Southern. 

"Kudos to Jo in that in the end his instincts took over," Kellen Sampson said. "There are some guys that are paying $100 an hour [for a personal trainer] and learning some of those things. Jo learned it 100 hours playing under the blazing Louisiana sun."

This is the time of year the unexpected make seasons, heroes and tournaments. One Shining Moment and all that. One simple pass has changed Tugler's life. His phone has blown up. Suddenly a sophomore role player averaging 5.5 points was talking about more than his broken right foot suffered more than a year ago. 

"I'm loving every moment of this right now," Tugler said Saturday afternoon. "I ain't never been to none of this." 

Jospeh Tugler's pass set up Milos Uzan's last-second layup to beat Purdue u the Sweet 16. Imagn Images

It's happening all over the bracket. Michigan State's Tom Izzo is one game away from his first Final Four in six years at age 70.  Cooper Flagg is trying to win it all in his one-and-done year at Duke. 

In Sunday's game here, Kelvin Sampson and Tennessee's Rick Barnes renew a friendship that goes back 40 years. But those guys are stars, familiar names. 

This is survival at a base level. 

"To go on a great run you've gotta survive one game where maybe the bullet, it doesn't fire right," Kellen Sampson said. 

That moment was Friday night for Houston. 

The Tugler family moved to Houston about six years ago. The brother was an ungainly teenager growing into his body. 

"We did [know he was going to be this good],"  Elexar said. "It runs in our blood. He was tall for his age and he played against grown men. On the playground, on the court, we took him everywhere."

Kellen Sampson saw Tugler while scouting another player at a high school event. Somehow a kid on the B-team of the AAU Houston Defenders 16-and-under team made an impact.

"Jo ended up making four or five plays," Sampson said. "At the time he was 6-5 ½, 6-6. He was everywhere…

"It's just his motor. His game is a shotgun blast. It still is. But so is our game. His long arms are ridiculous. When he came for one of his unofficial visits. We measured his wingspan. Our [jaws] dropped -- 7-6." 

Houston eventually beat out TCU, Kansas State, SMU and Louisiana Tech for Tugler. That makes Tugler a bargain in anyone's recruiting evaluation. 

"In that moment it's magnified," Cryer said. "He always makes little plays like, 'Dang, coach didn't draw it up, but he just does it on his own. It was just one of the moments. This time it was the biggest one." 

As only Kelvin Sampson can do, he used Tugler's name in the same sentence as Chris Paul.

"I wouldn't compare JoJo's IQ with Chris Paul's. I would compare his instincts," he said. 

There's that I-word again. The kid, the play and the tournament, sometimes, is hard to quantify. As for Tugler's sudden celebrity, more than attention awaits if Houston can win out. He is part of a Cougars' crew that already is well compensated. 

"Our kids do well in NIL," Sampson volunteered. "It hasn't changed our kids."

Barnes was asked about an era when high-profile coaches in both football and basketball have retired rather than right the rising tide of professionalism. 

"I never did [think about retiring] because I've got a group of guys I thoroughly enjoy being around every day … There are days they probably don't like me very well," Barnes said. "Some days I don't like them either."

All five Tennessee players on the dais Saturday smiled. 

Both coaches are from North Carolina. Both have played and coached against each other in their youth and in their golden years. Sampson is 69. Barnes is 70. Both are among the leaders of coaches with the most wins among active coaches. 

"Rick is one of my favorite people in the world…," Sampson said. "He is a jewel among jewels."

"I love Kelvin Sampson," Barnes said. "He will be a friend of mine until the day I die."

On Sunday afternoon they will be after each other's throats. Barnes' 800-pound gorilla is that Tennessee has never been to a Final Four. Sampson has been to two Final Fours in his career. He has the team – perhaps his best at Houston – to finally win a national championship. 

"If we don't win it, I hope he does," Barnes said. 

The pair coached against each other for eight intense years when they were at Oklahoma (Sampson) and Texas (Barnes) and Big 12 foes. They never let a fierce rivalry get in the way of their friendship. 

Sampson told of a golf fundraiser prior to the Texas-Oklahoma football game with the basketball coaches as honorary captains. The players had to hit from where the coaches' balls landed off the tee. Barnes went into the woods, Sampson recalled. Sampson sliced one into the water.

"You know what that tells you?" Houston's coach asked. "How good basketball coaches we are because neither one of us can golf."