Houston's Marcus Sasser pulled at half; status in question

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Houston coach Kelvin Sampson, fresh off a closer than expected win over No. 16 seed Northern Kentucky during the first round of the NCAA tournament on Thursday night, defended the decision to play star guard Marcus Sasser, who recently suffered a groin injury.

Sasser — the American Conference Player of the Year, All-American and one of the best scorers in college basketball — injured his groin during the conference tournament less than a week ago. He started against Northern Kentucky but played only 14 minutes before aggravating the injury, limping to the bench and being pulled from the game.

Houston struggled to pull away from Northern Kentucky and ultimately hung on to win 63-52 to advance in the tournament.

Sasser told reporters after the game that there was «definitely» an opportunity for him to play against No. 9 seed Auburn on Saturday.

Sampson said that Sasser, who did not play in Houston's game on Sunday, didn't participate in practice until Wednesday. Sampson said he didn't know Sasser would play until Thursday morning and that he would have been fine had Sasser chosen to sit out.

«I've been with Marcus for four years,» he said. «I trust Marcus and I trust our trainer. I leave those decisions up to them. Marcus knows his body better than anyone in this room, including me.

»So I would have been fine if Marcus had decided not to play tonight, but he wanted to give it a try because he thought he was at a high enough percentage out of 100 that he could go."

Sampson believed his team was deflated when Sasser was sidelined in the second half. Without him — and without a fully healthy roster top to bottom — Sampson said Houston isn't No. 1 seed material.

«We don't have another Marcus Sasser,» he