Why This Houston Freshman Was Best Player on the Floor in Win vs. Towson

Although Kingston Flemings stole the spotlight with his 20-point peformance for the No. 2 Houston Cougars on Saturday, Chris Cenac, even with limited scoring, may have been just as if not the most impactful player on the floor.

McDonald's All American West center Chris Cenac Jr. claps during the second half of the game at Barclays Center. | Pamela Smith-Imagn Images

No. 2 Houston men's basketball, in a valiant effort from multiple contributors, defeated the Towson Tigers on Saturday at Fertitta Center to improve to 2-0 on the season, as the afternoon was highlighted by freshman guard Kingston Flemings' 20-point performance that began with two fast break dunks off turnovers.

While yes, the afternoon wasn't necessarily the cleanest on paper turnover wise as the Cougars had committed 12 turnovers, nine of them combined from Flemings, freshman forward Chris Cenac and junior forward Joseph Tugler, the margin only inflated from that point forward from playing a clean final eight minutes.

Although Flemings' performance stole the spotlight for the Cougars, coach Kelvin Sampson brought up a point postgame where observers should also consider how Cenac may have rather been the best player on the floor despite only scoring the final field goal for Houston with under a minute left.

Kelvin Sampson Praises Chris Cenac

Nov 8, 2025; Houston, Texas, USA; Towson Tigers forward Caleb Embeya (23) controls the ball as Houston Cougars center Chris Cenac Jr. (5) defends during the first half at Fertitta Center. | Troy Taormina-Imagn Images

"I told the team afterward that the guy I was most proud of was Cenac," Sampson said. "Because not any of those misses he had, did it phase him at all."

Sampson attributes this to Cenac wasting no time reaching for rebounds as he grabbed 13 on an afternoon where ball security was mostly a mixed bag, helping the Cougars grow their possession lead down the pike. With his double-double on Monday night, Cenac now sits at 23 boards through just two games and only adding value to his stretch frontcourt prowess.

"The kid has had 10, 10, 10 and 13 rebounds," he said. "He's got something he's really, really good at. That will keep him on the floor, and once he cleans the other stuff up, this kid's gonna be nice."

One shot, but a pure one

Nov 3, 2025; Houston, Texas, USA; Houston Cougars center Chris Cenac Jr. (5) shoots over Lehigh Mountain Hawks forward Hank Alvey (35) during the first half at Fertitta Center. | Maria Lysaker-Imagn Images

Sampson also expressed the value of Cenac's lone make from the floor, a swift jumper in the paint with 53 seconds remaining in the game.

"The last shot he took, I can't think of many guys that I have coached over the years as a freshman that would have shot that as pure as he shot that," he said.

While it may be viewed as just a motivational piece from Sampson, scoring for a stretch big like Cenac with a 7-foot-4 wingspan in fact doesn't need to be constant in every single game, as even with the greatest prospect profiles under his belt, he constantly stresses the smaller tools that have always made his players professionally ready.

Nobody should be alarmed considering that we're only two games into the season as scoring funks can happen early on, but Cenac is already living up to his draft prospect billing which should be bolstered especially when league play rolls around, knowing Houston's ability to turn a corner no matter how rough their non-conference slate plays out.