Ime Udoka Tells Alperen Sengun To Stop Crying: “Don’t Get The European Out Of Your Game”

Rockets head coach Ime Udoka sends an interesting message to Alperen Sengun.

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Houston, Texas, USA; Houston Rockets head coach Ime Udoka talks with center Alperen Sengun (28) during the game against the Oklahoma City Thunder at Toyota Center. Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-Imagn Images

Houston Rockets head coach Ime Udoka raised eyebrows after the team’s 117-106 win over the Los Angeles Clippers at the Intuit Dome in Inglewood. In his postgame press conference, Udoka was asked how Alperen Sengun can continue to grow and stated he needs to stop crying.

“Just continue to be a physical presence on both sides,” Udoka said. “But really my thing is to concentrate on the things you can control, which is looking to score and not looking to get fouled as much. Playing through contact and not looking for a call or letting missed shots affect you on the other end.

“They went after him tonight anytime he had it in the post and he found guys and that was the reason we had those wide-open looks,” Udoka continued. “So, some nights it’s going to be a scoring thing, some nights it’s going to be facilitating and he has to be able to do both.

“But, my biggest thing with him is, I say to him, ‘Don’t get the European out of your game. Play through stuff. Stop crying,'” Udoka added.

There’s always been a lot of talk about European players crying too much and hating physicality, but Udoka seems to think that applies to the non-Europeans now. He wants Sengun to stop crying for fouls like them and instead play through contact without complaining.

Sengun wasn’t too aggressive in this game against the Clippers, as he turned into a facilitator considering there was so much defensive attention on him. The 22-year-old finished with just 11 points (4-9 FG), 10 rebounds, and six assists on the night as the Rockets snapped a two-game losing streak to improve to 16-8 on the season.

The Rockets have had a fabulous start to this campaign, as they are third in the standings in the West, and Udoka and Sengun deserve a lot of credit for it. 

Sengun is now averaging 18.5 points, 10.6 rebounds, 5.3 assists, 1.1 steals, and 1.1 blocks per game in 2024-25. The Rockets are the best rebounding team in the NBA this season (averaging 49.9 per game) and he is a big reason why they’ve been so dominant on the glass.

As for Udoka, he continues to show why he might just be the best defensive coach in the NBA. The Rockets have a defensive rating of 105.4 this season, which ranks second. They were one of the worst defensive teams in the league before they hired him in 2023 and he has completely transformed them on that end of the floor.

Udoka nearly led the Rockets to the playoffs in his first season, but they just missed out on the Play-In spots by finishing 11th. I think, at this point, it’s safe to say he will succeed at getting them into the postseason and that would be quite an impressive feat considering how bad they were before he got there.

Udoka wouldn’t be looking that far into the future at present, though. His focus would be on helping the Rockets win their NBA Cup quarterfinal clash against the Golden State Warriors at Toyota Center on Wednesday at 9:30 PM ET.

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Gautam Varier is a staff writer and columnist for Fadeaway World from Mumbai, India. He graduated from Symbiosis International University with a Master of Business specializing in Sports Management in 2020. This educational achievement enables Gautam to apply sophisticated analytical techniques to his incisive coverage of basketball, blending business acumen with sports knowledge.Before joining Fadeaway World in 2022, Gautam honed his journalistic skills at Sportskeeda and SportsKPI, where he covered a range of sports topics with an emphasis on basketball. His passion for the sport was ignited after witnessing the high-octane offense of the Steve Nash-led Phoenix Suns. Among the Suns, Shawn Marion stood out to Gautam as an all-time underrated NBA player. Marion’s versatility as a defender and his rebounding prowess, despite being just 6’7”, impressed Gautam immensely. He admired Marion’s finishing ability at the rim and his shooting, despite an unconventional jump shot, believing that Marion’s skill set would have been even more appreciated in today’s NBA.This transformative experience not only deepened his love for basketball but also shaped his approach to sports writing, enabling him to connect with readers through vivid storytelling and insightful analysis.
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