Chris Cenac Is Already Changing His Reputation At Houston — How an NBA Talent Shed Critics By Embracing Kelvin Sampson’s Work Grind

LAS VEGAS — Chris Cenac Jr. is not supposed to play this hard. At least that’s what this NBA talent’s reputation coming into college basketball indicated. But as ESPN basketball guru Fran Fraschilla watches Cenac play for Kelvin Sampson’s University of Houston program, a new truth has become apparent.

Cenac is already playing with intensity, already rewriting his rep.

“The reputation Chris had coming to Houston was a talented big guy who didn’t always play hard,” Fraschilla tells PaperCity. “But the more I watch him practice, the more how coachable I see that he is — he’s hanging on every word that coaching staff tells him — and then to have some breakout games (already), I think it does wonders for his confidence.

“Chris Cenac is changing his reputation by what he’s doing at Houston.”

Already.

Starting for the third ranked team in America — the highest-ranked team in this week’s highest-profile holiday tournament by a wide margin, the million-dollars-per-team Players Era Festival in Sin City — this 6-foot-11 freshman big man finds himself in another showcase spot. Good thing Chris Cenac has already proven to be a quick learner.

The talented freshman with the 7-foot-4 wingspan isn’t just a long body. Cenac brings some bulk, the power to stake his ground too. Now the No. 1 center in his high school recruiting class is playing like it.

Few are as qualified to comment on the changes in Chris Cenac’s game as Fran Fraschilla. The former St. John’s coach turned ESPN staple commentator is a USA Basketball program regular and Cenac’s been playing in USA Basketball training camps since he was a high school sophomore. Fraschilla tracked Cenac winning a gold medal at the FIBA U17 World Cup in 2024 and he was there in Colorado Springs this summer when Cenac found himself cut from the 2025 USA Men’s U19 National Team by Arizona coach Tommy Lloyd.

That cut surprised many in college basketball world. Fraschilla saw the Cenac others saw then, supremely talented but maybe not always giving max effort all of the time. Now Fraschilla sees the Houston Chris Cenac. In part because this UH coaching staff set about making sure Cenac saw what others saw first.

“He was inconsistent,” UH assistant coach Kellen Sampson tells PaperCity. “I thought he was always a kid who played in flurries. He’d put together four or five minutes and your eyes would open and your jaw drop. And then he’d put together six, seven minutes, eight to 10 minutes where you just don’t notice him a whole lot.

“The fact that we recruited him so long, we could identify that early as his M.O. and something that’s problematic. That was priority No. 1 — fixing it. Making sure that every minute he was on the floor, he was super intentional.”

“The reputation Chris had coming to Houston was a talented big guy who didn’t always play hard.” — ESPN analyst Fran Fraschilla

Kelvin and Kellen Sampson drove this point home by telling Cenac how much easier he was making it for players trying to guard him.

“That was kind of the message more so than anything,” Kellen Sampson says. ” ‘Man you’re letting people off the hook. Because there’s long periods of time where they don’t feel you.’ ”

UH’s opponents are feeling Chris Cenac now.

Maybe Chris Cenac is embracing this because people misread him all along. After all, he picked this Houston grind over the glamour of some other elite programs. Everybody knows you go to Kelvin Sampson to work.

Chris Cenac Chooses Hard

The long-armed freshman already has three games of nine or more rebounds (out of five games played). He’s shooting 55 percent from the field and 46 percent from three heading into the Cougars’ Players Era opener vs. Syracuse (5 pm Monday, TNT). He’s scored in double figures every game but one. This is an 18-year-old who already seems comfortable in a grown-up basketball world.

“Just making sure I always play with a high motor,” Cenac says. “Giving that extra effort. We always play hard at Houston.”

This major of a transformation this quick may not be unprecedented. But it’s anything but typical. It usually takes much longer for the light to come on, for a play harder ethos to seep in.

“Credit to him,” Kellen Sampson says. “He’s just super coachable. And he’s allowed us to push him into those uncomfortable areas.”

Maybe Chris Cenac is embracing this because people misread him all along. After all, he picked this Houston grind over the glamour of some other elite programs. Everybody knows you go to Kelvin Sampson to work.

Cenac chose that. When he could have chosen almost any place.

“This was Chris’s pick,” Kellen Sampson says. “Mom and dad did an awesome job of supporting him and loving him. And standing behind his decision. But this was Chris’s selection.”

Kelvin Sampson has a way of getting the best out of talented players who may not always push themselves. When Sampson arrived at Indiana University, D.J. White still hadn’t completely lived up to the hype that accompanied his own arrival. But he dramatically upped his rebounding to 7.5 rebounds per game in Sampson’s first season in Bloomington and then pushed it to 10.5 rebounds per game (leading the entire Big Ten) in Sampson’s second season.

White would leave Indiana with the Big Ten Player Of the Year trophy. And he’ll tell you today that Kelvin Sampson helped push him there, maybe even dragged him there a little at first.

“He’ll get the best out of you,” White tells PaperCity. “Even if you don’t even see that best yourself. He makes you believe you can do more. You start to understand that you can play harder than you thought you could play.”

White is the general manager of the OKC Blue, the Thunder’s G League team, these days. Kelvin Sampson thinks he’ll become an NBA general manager one day. You never know where a transformation might take you.

For Chris Cenac, the power of playing hard is changing his reputation. He’s making the other teams feel him now. Just months into his new UH life, the equation is already much different for Cenac and the program he chose.