Sports
The latest Houston Heartbreak? An ‘incomprehensible’ finish in final possession vs. Florida
SAN ANTONIO — How much can one program take? How can Houston stomach another one of these? Another portrait of coming so close, only to see it all recede from view, covered instead by the wrong colored confetti?
On this Monday night in April, it was Emanuel Sharp crouching deep, his hands atop his head, seeing the court around him turn orange and blue. Ja’Vier Francis knelt next to him, refusing to leave his teammate’s side. Kelvin Sampson, the coach, stared from across the floor, hands at his sides. Florida’s Walter Clayton Jr. leaned down, offering Sharp a hug from behind.
Houston’s trip to the national championship game was going to end either as the best night in school history or as another chapter in this cruel epic. The antagonist in Jim Valvano’s hero’s quest. The shadow in Fred Brown’s redemption. Even before Monday, the school held a tormenting place in this sport’s history — the record for all-time Final Four appearances without a national championship win.
It was six. Now, after what somehow happened here — a gutting, what-just-happened 65-63 loss to a Florida team that trailed the Cougars by 12 early in the second half — the number is seven.
For a school that plays the part with unenviable periodicity, this one might be the hardest. This ending was supposed to be the one that erased all the others.
“Incomprehensible,” Sampson said later, “in that situation, (that) we couldn’t get a shot, couldn’t get a shot.”
The sequence will live in the depths of the Coogs’ minds for a generation or two.
Down two, 19 seconds left. A timeout called.
How did Houston win 35 games this year? Because in these moments, Sampson talks and the Coogs listen. Then they execute. Then they win. Normal teams don’t go undefeated in road conference games. This one did.
Certain things were made clear in the huddle. The Coogs didn’t need a 3. But they did need to get a shot off with enough time left to have a chance at an offensive rebound. Sampson drew up a play for L.J. Cryer, Houston’s all-everything guard. If the initial action didn’t spring him, Sampson wanted the possession to pivot to an elevator screen for Sharp.
It all developed a little too slowly. Cryer’s look wasn’t there. Now 7.3 seconds remained, and here came Sharp, running from the baseline to the top of the key, rubbing past screener J’Wan Roberts, trying to get free. That screen? Clayton cared not for it. The 6-foot-2 guard darted by and, seeing Sharp rise for what very well could’ve been a game-winning shot and carved a whole damn chapter in the annals of college basketball, leapt into the sky and blocked out the sun.
This, apparently, was when Sharp thought of a potential wrinkle in the play call. If he saw a closeout, he was told to put the ball on the deck and dash to the basket. Go tie the game. Go win in overtime. As associate head coach Kellen Sampson, Kelvin’s son, said later, “Emanuel’s as good a decision maker in closeouts as there is. And he needs little space to get one off.”
Sharp thought the shot was there, but then it wasn’t, and it was all too late. The shooting window closed, and Sharp dropped the ball instead of having it stuffed. There it bounced and bounded. With it, all 75 years of program history. And there stood Sharp, utterly powerless. If he picked up the ball, he would be whistled for traveling.
Under the basket, Roberts turned his back when Sharp rose to shoot, waiting for that possible offensive rebound. It would’ve been the Coogs’ 16th of the night, double what Florida pulled down. But the shot never came.
“I turned back around and it was just bouncing on the floor,” Roberts said.
Florida’s Alex Condon dove to the floor with two seconds on the clock, crashing shoulder-to-shoulder with Francis. The ball squirted away, the final horn sounded and the impossible pain ensued.
Roberts, originally from the U.S. Virgin Islands, went to high school in Killeen, Texas, in order to play college basketball. He committed to Houston as a three-star recruit in September 2018. That was six years, seven months, five days ago. Houston, at the time, was coming off that first NCAA Tournament appearance under Sampson. Since then, Roberts has seen every step of a journey that was seemingly all leading to a final destination at the Alamodome this week.
There was a loss to Kentucky in the 2019 Sweet 16. A canceled NCAA Tournament in 2020. A national semifinal loss to Baylor in the 2021 Final Four. A loss to Villanova in the 2022 Elite Eight. A Sweet 16 loss to Miami as a No. 1 seed in 2023. Another Sweet 16 loss as a 1-seed in 2024, this time to Duke.
When this year’s national semifinal ended with Houston roaring back from 14 points down with eight minutes left to beat those same Blue Devils, it sure seemed like this was it. Monday was to be the last of Roberts’ program-record 173 career games. It was going to be Sampson’s 300th win at the school and 800th win of his career.
Instead, Florida, with its 39-year-old coach, won its third national championship. The others came in 2006 and ’07, when Kelvin Sampson, now 69, was in the midst of moving from Oklahoma to Indiana. What all feels like a millennium ago.
Monday night’s final horn sounded just before 10:15 p.m. local time.
“One Shining Moment” played at 10:38.
At 10:54, the Houston locker room opened its doors, revealing the aftermath. Roberts said it had taken awhile for Sampson to collect himself and address the team. The old coach told this team it would never have gone so far without each player. He pointed specifically to Sharp, a junior with 106 games played at Houston. Then Sampson invited each assistant coach to address the room. Then each senior spoke.
Sharp, according to Roberts, got up and apologized to the team. In reality, the night wasn’t lost on any singular possession. This was a 40-minute rock fight, one filled with moments Houston will want back.
“We ain’t finna blame (Sharp) for that,” Roberts said. “He did a lot of great things. We know how special Emanuel is. I’m going to comfort him as much as possible, and I’m gonna defend his name if anybody tries to make it worse than what it is.”
Sharp never emerged in the postgame locker room. A phone was discarded in his locker.
Outside, the Alamodome emptied and midnight approached.
“What’s today’s date?” Roberts asked, slumped in his locker.
It was April 7.
“June to April, man. A long journey,” Roberts said, thinking back to the 2024-25 Coogs’ first practice. “It’s just crushing. You get to this point and you lose by two points. We had a chance to tie it or win the game. I just …”
Robert paused, conjuring all the voices of Houston’s past.
“I just wish we could run that play again.”
(Photo: Jamie Squire / Getty Images)
Sports
UAB players take field hours after stabbing incident leaves two hospitalized
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University of Alabama at Birmingham football players took the field in Birmingham, Alabama, Saturday just hours after tragedy struck.
Two players from UAB were allegedly stabbed by a teammate at the team’s training center ahead of a game against South Florida, a university official confirmed to Fox News Digital.
Both were reported to be in stable condition at a hospital. The names of the victims and the player in custody were not released.
Saturday’s game kicked off at 3 p.m. ET, and USF cruised to a 48-18 victory.
Two UAB football players were stabbed hours before their game Saturday in Birmingham, Ala. (Wes Hale/Getty Images)
An online inmate inquiry from the Jefferson County Jail showed that Daniel Israel Mincey, 20, was arrested by the UAB Campus Police just after noon Saturday and is facing charges of “aggravated assault — A to M — attempted murder.” The university would not confirm whether Mincey was a player involved.
MAN WHO SHOT AND KILLED UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA FOOTBALL PLAYERS SENTENCED TO 5 LIFE TERMS
Mincey is a redshirt freshman who joined the team after one season at Kentucky, according to the UAB football roster.
The two players were attacked Saturday morning at the Football Operations Center, the training center for the Blazers’ football program. (Michael Wade/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
There appeared to be concerns about whether the game would proceed as scheduled given the incident, but a spokesperson confirmed that the university elected to play.
“We’re grateful to report that two players injured in an incident this morning at the Football Operations Building are in stable condition. Our thoughts are with them and their families as they recover. The suspect — another player — remains in custody, and an investigation is taking place,” a spokesperson said.
USF quarterback Byrum Brown threw for 353 yards and accounted for five touchdowns in the blowout win. UAB held a 10-7 lead at the end of the first quarter, but USF scored 27 unanswered points.
A South Florida Bulls helmet near the sideline during a game between the South Florida Bulls and the Miami Hurricanes Sept. 13, 2025, at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Fla. (Peter Joneleit/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
The highlight of Brown’s day was a 60-yard touchdown pass to Mudia Reuben, which gave USF a 24-10 lead on the first play of the third quarter. Nykahi Davenport added 117 rushing yards and a touchdown run for USF.
UAB quarterback Jalen Kitna had 230 passing yards but was also responsible for three costly interceptions.
Fox News’ Paulina Dedaj and information from The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Sports
UCLA loses in blowout to Washington in possible Rose Bowl swan song for Bruins
Somebody should check with SoFi Stadium to see if it rescinded its offer.
In what could have been UCLA’s last game at the Rose Bowl after 43 years of calling the place home, the Bruins unfurled the kind of showing that no one would ever want to relive or put in a scrapbook.
If this was goodbye, it was a sad sendoff.
There were lost fumbles, a laughably bad fake field goal that resulted in a touchdown for the other team and a dropped pass that probably cost UCLA its own score. And that was just in the first half.
Adding injury to insult, UCLA quarterback Nico Iamaleava took a crunching hit that sidelined him late in the third quarter, ending his gritty return from a concussion that had forced him to miss his team’s last game.
UCLA quarterback Nico Iamaleava passes in the first half against Washington on Saturday night.
(Eric Thayer / Los Angeles Times)
There’s mercifully only one game left for the Bruins this season after a 48-14 loss to Washington on Saturday night led to a fast-emptying stadium, no fond farewells in store for the home fans amid an announced crowd of 38,201 that was too depleted by game’s end to boo.
The site of UCLA’s next home game remains as big of an unknown as its next head coach. School officials have said they are still contemplating plans for where the team will play in the future, though that decision could be up to a court to decide given the Bruins have nearly two decades left on a Rose Bowl lease that doesn’t expire until the summer of 2044.
It’s believed that if school officials have their way, they will move to SoFi Stadium in time for their 2026 season opener.
Wherever the Bruins play, they have a lot of improvements to make. They looked lethargic in falling behind by 34 points Saturday while making one mistake after another on the way to a fourth consecutive defeat.
By the time he entered the game, there was little backup quarterback Luke Duncan could do except make the final score slightly more palatable. He succeeded on that front, firing a 37-yard touchdown pass to Mikey Matthews late in the third quarter that helped UCLA (3-8 overall, 3-5 Big Ten) avoid a shutout.
There was another highlight for the Bruins early in the fourth quarter when Kanye Clark forced a fumble on Washington’s punt return, allowing Jamir Benjamin to pick up the ball and run 13 yards for a touchdown.
But make no mistake: This was complete domination by the Huskies (8-3, 5-3), who rolled up 426 yards of offense while holding the Bruins to 207 yards, including just 57 yards rushing.
Washington alumnus and comedian Joel McHale performed a short recorded bit that was shown on the scoreboard before the game, but the real slapstick was about to come.
The Bruins coughed up two fumbles in the first half and would have lost a third had the Huskies not been called for defensive holding on the play, nullifying the turnover.
UCLA quarterback Luke Duncan throws during the second half against Washington on Saturday.
(Eric Thayer / Los Angeles Times)
UCLA wide receiver Titus Mokiao-Atimalala dropped what could have been a touchdown pass at the Huskies’ 38-yard line with nothing but open field in front of him.
But there was no blunder quite like what happened when the Bruins lined up for a 46-yard field goal late in the second quarter. Holder Cash Peterman took the snap and flipped the ball over his shoulder as kicker Mateen Bhaghani circled behind him, the ball hitting the turf instead of Bhaghani’s hands.
Washington’s Alex McLaughlin picked up the ball and ran 59 yards for a touchdown that put the Huskies ahead, 20-0. It was the second straight game UCLA was held scoreless in the first half.
Things never got appreciably better, the Bruins left adrift without a haven in sight.
Sports
LSU national champion Breiden Fehoko retires from NFL at 29
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Former Pittsburgh Steelers defensive tackle Breiden Fehoko, who won a national championship with LSU in 2020, announced his retirement on Friday at age 29.
Fehoko, who began his NFL career as an undrafted free agent with the Los Angeles Chargers in 2020, made the announcement on Instagram.
Los Angeles Chargers defensive tackle Breiden Fehoko (96) reacts after the game against the Los Angeles Rams at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California, on Jan. 1, 2023. (Kirby Lee/USA TODAY Sports)
“Sometimes in life you just get a sense of fulfillment & for me it’s now. 29 years old and I couldn’t be happier with the journey of where this game has taken me,” his post read.
“To my family you guys never let me quit and more importantly never let me stop believing in myself. I’m thankful for every coach, teammate, trainer, opponent, agent, etc. because you guys made me a better version of myself every time I stepped on that football field.”
Fehoko played two seasons at Texas Tech before joining former LSU head coach Ed Orgeron in the SEC for two seasons, culminating in a national championship with the Tigers in 2020. He finished his collegiate career with 71 tackles and four sacks across 48 games.
Breiden Fehoko (96) of the Los Angeles Chargers tackles Derrick Henry (22) of the Tennessee Titans in the third quarter of the game at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California, on Dec. 18, 2022. (Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)
A journeyman, Fehoko signed with the Chargers in 2020 after going undrafted that year. He made his NFL debut that season in a Week 12 game against the Buffalo Bills.
NFL STAR XAVIEN HOWARD ABRUPTLY RETIRES AFTER 4 GAMES WITH COLTS
Fehoko appeared in 19 games for the Chargers, registering 36 tackles across three seasons.
He signed with the Steelers in 2023, but never appeared in any games. He signed with the team in August but was later released before the start of the season.
Breiden Fehoko (96) of the Pittsburgh Steelers lines up during the second half of a preseason game against the Atlanta Falcons at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia, on Aug. 24, 2023. (Todd Kirkland/Getty Images)
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“I’m not a fan of long novels but I’m glad to say I’m retiring from this great sport of football,” Fehoko post read. “I’m so blessed to have a head start in life & I look forward to my next chapter with my family. I’ll miss the team dinners, bus rides, training camps, and everything in between. I won’t miss conditioning.”
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