Chris Cenac Goes To Hakeem Olajuwon School, Impresses With His 3-Point Shooting — A Different Type Of UH Big Man

When the 6-foot-11 freshman center started hitting 3-pointers over him, Cedric Lath realized things had changed in the University of Houston front court. “He’s really different,” Lath says of Chris Cenac Jr., the McDonald’s All-American rated the No. 1 center in his 2025 high school class. “J’Wan (Roberts) wasn’t shooting from there.”

Cenac is a floor spacer and rim rattler in one long athletic package and he’s already changing the dimensions of the court for Kelvin Sampson, whose skill, strategy and feel as a offensive coach is oft overshadowed by his well-earned defensive wizardry reputation. Sampson having a Chris Cenac is like giving Magnus Carlsen an extra queen or handing Carlos Alvarez a 3-0 first set lead. But with Cenac possibly primed to be UH’s first one-and-done player since Jarace Walker, time is of the essence. Which is one of the reasons Cenac is already getting extra schooling from Hakeem Olajuwon and Walker himself.

“It’s just them teaching me the college game,” Cenac tells PaperCity of his workouts with The Dream and last UH player to be a Top 10 NBA Draft pick. “They’ve been there. And I’m just coming into it. So I can just learn a lot from them.”

While Olajuwon taught Cenac some mid-post moves, UH’s new freshman and Walker bonded over what to expect being coached by Kelvin Sampson. “Jarace played that type of position here,” Cenac says. “And that’s the type of position I’m going to be playing.”

Walker took nearly three 3-pointers per game during his one season playing a power forward role in Sampson’s program. Cenac who’s always modeled his game after the inside-outside abilities of Anthony Davis, is coming in as arguably a better long distance shooter than Walker was as a college freshman. Just ask Lath, the 6-foot-9, 265-pound bruiser tasked with guarding Cenac most practices.

Or Sampson, who sometimes has to order Cenac to go inside during practices rather than torment Lath with his outside shooting.

“Just a powerful, powerful young man,” Kelvin Sampson says of the 6-foot-9, 260-pound Lath who has twentysomething pounds of solid muscle over the taller Ceanc. “. . . He’s really aggressive in practice. Sometimes I have to make Chris go down there. Chris wants to take him outside. I say, ‘Not today. Not today. Get your butt inside and battle.’ ”

Cenac picked Sampson’s program in part because he knew he’d be pushed out of his comfort zone. He’s already more driven with the added motivation of having been left off the final roster of the USA Basketball Men’s U19 National Team this summer after going through training camp in Colorado Springs.

“It taught me you can’t take anything for granted,” Cenac tells PaperCity.

UH is already benefitting from this more determined Chris Cenac. “Chris is a really good player,” Lath says. “He’s going to really help us winning. He continues to impress me. He knows how to shoot and can do multiple stuff.”

Olajuwon emphasized that Cenac needs to have a plan whether he’s taking a defender inside or outside. The Dream drilled into the freshman the need to be decisive in everything he does on the court. To not start a move without knowing where you’re trying to get to on the court and how you plan to make it happen.

“Just knowing what you’re about to do,” Cenac says. “He’s big on that.”

No one pulled off more elaborate and precise footwork than the basketball legend behind The Dream Shake of course. Imparting something like that takes way more than a session or two and Chris Cenac needs to experience much more basketball to be ready for that process. These first workouts with Olajuwon served as more of an introductory step.

As welcome to the University of Houston basketball fraternity goes, it does not get much bigger than working out with Hakeem. Not many other programs can offer a connection to one of the Top 10 NBA players of all time.

“Just overall, it was great learning from a legend like that,” Cenac says. “Just learning little small tips that can help me along the way.”

Cenac being skilled both inside and out did not come by accident. His dad Chris Cenac Sr., a rather tall imposing figure himself, worked to make sure his son had coaches who did not just stick him inside. Dad insisted that Cenac got to work on all aspects of the game.

“He was always tall,” Chris Cenac Sr. tells PaperCity. “He was always taller than everyone else in his class. It was just about getting the fundamentals down. I never wanted him to be just the tall kid.”

Cenac is still the tall kid. He’s well above Olajuwon in their photo together. But that only begins to describe his game rather than completely defining it.

“Just overall, it was great learning from a legend like that. Just learning little small tips that can help me along the way.” — UH freshman Chris Cenac Jr. on his workouts with Hakeem Olajuwon.

Chris Cenac and Proving It With Kelvin Sampson

Kelvin Sampson is quick to remind of how far Chris Cenac — part of the coach’s Fantastic Four freshmen class, the highest rated class in school history (No. 2 in the entire country) — still has to go.

“We don’t have nobody up front near as good as (former sixth-year stalwart) J’Wan (Roberts) right now,” Sampson says when I ask about Cenac. “J’Wan was in his sixth year. There’s nobody here nearly as good as J’Wan right now. We’re developing some of these kids.

“Whether they’re freshmen or sophomores, whatever — they’re all developing. But you realize you’re not going to replace J’Wan with another player no matter what year he is.”

“He’s really different. J’Wan (Roberts) wasn’t shooting from there.” — UH center Cedric Lath on Chris Cenac

Sampson points out that Roberts “never made a jump shot” in six seasons and didn’t hit anything from as far as 15 feet unless it was a free throw. But he’s also the winningest player in UH’s storied basketball history. Chris Cenac will probably make several jumpers, maybe several threes, just in Houston’s season opener against Lehigh on November 3rd. Sampson’s more interested in the winning, with his elite UH program set to start its national championship runner-up followup season as the No. 1 or No. 2 ranked team in America. Cenac’s ability to adapt to Houston’s relentless defensive demands and his shot blocking ability will be key there.

This is a different type of big man, one who stretches boundaries and challenges easy labels.

“I think that’s the main part of my game,” Cenac says. “Knowing who’s guarding me and play off the mismatch. I think I’m always going to most likely have a mismatch. Whether it’s a small guy or a big guy. Just taken advantage of that mismatch every time.”

Take smaller defenders inside, force bigger ones to go outside where they’re as uncomfortable as a bear on skates. It sounds so simple. Few things in the elite upper echelon of college basketball end up being that routine. Cedric Lath sees it in action every day though. He already has no doubts about how annoying guarding Chris Cenac will be for many a big man.

Get ready to run.

“He makes you move a lot to keep up with him,” Lath says with a laugh.

Hakeem Olajuwon just wants Chris Cenac to remember where he’s going.

No outlet covers UH basketball throughout the entire calendar year with more consistency and focus than PaperCity Houston. For more of Chris Baldwin’s extensive, detailed and unique insider coverage of UH sports — stories you cannot read anywhere else, stay tuned. Follow Baldwin on the platform formerly known as Twitter here.