FAYETTEVILLE -- Arkansas didn't have much success against Kelvin Sampson when he was Oklahoma's coach.
Sampson led the Sooners to a 4-1 record against the Hogs.
Only the defending national champion Razorbacks, with five starters back, beat a Sampson-coached Oklahoma team 86-84 at Honolulu during the 1994-1995 season.
Sampson's four-game winning streak against the Razorbacks includes two victories at Arkansas' Walton Arena -- 66-52 during the 1999-2000 season and 69-54 during the 2001-02 season.
The Razorbacks (6-1) will try to change their luck against Sampson when he brings Houston (6-1) into Walton Arena tonight for a matchup of former Southwest Conference rivals.
Tipoff is 6 p.m. for the SEC Network telecast.
Arkansas Coach Mike Anderson has never faced Sampson as a head coach, but he was an assistant for the Razorbacks' previous five games against him.
Sampson, 61, has a 541-300 record in 28 seasons at Montana Tech, Washington State, Oklahoma, Indiana and Houston. He twice won national coach of the year awards with the Sooners in 1995 and 2002.
"We're all familiar with Kelvin and what he's done," Anderson said. "It's not surprising he's put together a very athletic team [at Houston].
"It's a team that has great guard play. They can score and rebound the basketball, and Kelvin's teams are always going to be hard-nosed defensively."
Sampson resigned under pressure at Indiana during the 2007-2008 season, and the NCAA eventually levied a five-year, show-cause penalty against him -- effectively barring him from another college job -- for repeated violations of making impermissible calls and texts to recruits.
Sampson was an NBA assistant for six seasons with the Milwaukee Bucks and Houston Rockets before being hired by the University of Houston for the 2014-2015 season after his his show-cause penalty had been lifted.
The Cougars were 13-19 in Sampson's first season and improved to 22-10 with an NIT bid last season. They're expected to challenge for the American Athletic Conference title and an NCAA bid this season, led by junior guard Rob Gray (19.4 points per game), senior guard Damyeon Dotson (13.9 ppg) and junior forward Devin Dotson (12.7 ppg).
Dotson transferred to Houston from Oregon and Davis transferred from Odessa (Texas) Junior College after beginning his college career at Indiana.
"Kelvin has an older team, and that's how you win at this level," Anderson said. "They know how to play. One thing about older guys, they don't get rattled."
The Cougars lead the nation in three-point shooting at 45.7 percent. They're averaging 8.4 three-point baskets per game. Dotson has hit 20 of 37 three-point attempts, Gray 14 of 31 and junior guard Wes Vanbeck 11 of 19.
For the season, Houston is shooting 50.7 percent from the field.
"No. 1 is their primary guys are shooting at a high clip," Anderson said. "Their role guys are shooting at a high clip as well.
"They're getting good shots. That means they're attacking the basket.
"When you're attacking the basket, it opens it up for the perimeter guys and they're knocking those shots down."
Arkansas' opponents are shooting 35.3 percent from three-point range, though the Razorbacks held Austin Peay to 3 of 14 in beating the Governors 99-62 on Saturday night.
"Our guys are really going to have to be on the same page defensively," Anderson said.
Houston's only loss this season was 84-65 at LSU last week. The Cougars bounced back to beat Prairie View A&M 105-61 on Saturday.
Anderson said what happened to Houston at LSU was reminiscent of the Razorbacks' lone road game, when they lost 85-71 at Minnesota.
"I think any time you go on the road, you want to play better the next time you go out," Anderson said. "You find out a little bit more about yourself.
"It's much like when we went to Minnesota. We found out a little bit more about ourselves. We found out we weren't as good as we thought we were.
"So we had a chance to go home and address some things, and I'm sure Kelvin did the same thing with his team."
Sports on 12/06/2016