Houston Cougars Projected Starting Lineup and Rotation for NCAA Tournament
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As anticipated, the Houston Cougars officially heard their name called as the No. 2 seed in the South Region at their Selection Sunday party at Fertitta Center on March 15.
The Cougars will prepare to face Big Sky conference champion No. 15 seed Idaho in the Round of 64 at Paycom Center in Oklahoma City on Thursday, March 19 at 9:10 p.m., just the first step towards playing in front of a home crowd in downtown Houston in the second weekend and towards their path back to the national championship game, where they will look to accomplish the long-awaited program goal.
The matchup marks the just the second meeting between Houston and Idaho all-time dating back to Dec. 27, 1963, also in Oklahoma City, with the Cougars taking the lone meeting over the Vandals 76-61 in the All-College Basketball Tournament.
But it was a more storied series for coach Kelvin Sampson while he was head coach at Washington State from 1987-94, where he went 3-5 against Idaho in his tenure there.
So what will Houston's starting lineup and rotation look like against the Vandals and for the remainder of a potentially storied NCAA tournament run? All signs point to nothing much changing from most of the season so far.
No. 2 Houston Cougars Potential Starting Lineup vs. No. 15 Idaho
Expect no changes from Sampson out of the lineup he has been rolling out all season long, considering this lineup helped Houston finish runner-up in the regular season and tournament in competing in the most coveted conference in college basketball.
Here are the five likely starters for Houston against Idaho:
- Milos Uzan, G
- Kingston Flemings, G
- Emanuel Sharp, G
- Chris Cenac Jr., F
- Joseph Tugler, F
The Cougars will also continue to roll out a bench rotation that includes graduate center Kalifa Sakho, redshirt freshman forward Chase McCarty in the frontcourt, and among guards, redshirt fifth year Ramon Walker Jr., sophomore Mercy Miller and freshman Isiah Harwell.
Milos Uzan
Senior guard Milos Uzan has started all 34 games this season for the Cougars. He enters the first round of the dance averaging 11.1 points, 2.6 rebounds and four assists per game, while holding 2.89 assist-to-turnover ratio, good for 35th in Division I.
Uzan will enter just his second NCAA tournament in his career, but will look to add to already memorable moments he provided as Houston's point guard last season, especially in flushing an inbounds pass with seconds to go in the Cougars' Sweet 16 matchup against Purdue in Indianapolis on March 28, 2025.
It capped off a 22-point performance that advanced Houston to its first Elite Eight since 2022, and was just another step towards its run to the national championship game in San Antonio.
Kingston Flemings
As a Bob Cousy Award finalist, AP Third Team All-American and First Team All-Big 12 selection, freshman guard Kingston Flemings will make his NCAA tournament debut averaging 16.4 points, 3.9 rebounds and 5.3 assists (45th in Division I) per game.
The highlight among all 34 games he has started was his freshman program record-breaking 42-point performance in Houston's 90-86 loss to Texas Tech at United Supermarkets Arena in Lubbock on Jan. 24, part of an already historical day for one of the most coveted freshman classes in college basketball history.
As one of three projected top-five NBA draft picks among Big 12 freshmen, Flemings will look to continue showcasing his avid scoring ability and off-ball physicality to get the Cougars back to promised land and be the next freshman national champion feat.
Emanuel Sharp
Much like Uzan and Flemings, redshirt senior guard Emanuel Sharp has started every single game for Houston this season in averaging 15.3 points, 2.9 rebounds and 1.8 assists per game.
But as the program record-holder in made 3-pointers, much of what has coined him as the "Sharp Shooter" is his career 37.6% clip from beyond the arc, leaving him a common reference as the lifeline from deep when the Cougars need it most.
The program record in triples was officially set with eight of them in Houston's 66-52 win over Utah in at Huntsman Center in Salt Lake City on Feb. 10.
Chris Cenac Jr.
As a stretch presence at the four, freshman forward Chris Cenac Jr., in starting all but the Cougars' Fertitta Center finale against Baylor on March 4, has averaged 9.5 points and 7.8 rebounds per game while collecting six double-doubles in his young career.
What has also gradually increased is his presence as a perimeter defender while consistently grabbing boards, and though his stroke from beyond the arc didn't find much stride early on in the season, Cenac logged four triples in two games in Houston's Big 12 tournament championship game run.
Joseph Tugler
Like Cenac, junior forward Joseph Tugler started every game but the Cougars' senior night stand against Baylor.
In his third season at the five in Houston's frontcourt, Tugler has averaged 8.4 points, 5.4 rebounds, 1.2 assists and 1.5 blocks per game, and looks to establish a presence for the field as a former Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year.
He'll also look to add to his career performance from Houston's 79-74 loss to Arizona in the Big 12 tournament championship game on March 14, a 20-point, 10-rebound double-double that helped earn him Big 12 All-Tournament Team honors.
Michael Carrara is a staff writer for Houston Cougars on SI. He attends the University of Houston, where he is a journalism major and a marketing minor. He is also a sports writer and reporter for the Daily Cougar, having covered baseball as an NCBWA member. You can find Michael on all major social media channels, including X on @michaelcoalec.