Inside Kelvin Sampson’s Winning Family World — And Why Kingston Flemings Is Not Close To Happy With Finishing Second

STILLWATER, Okla. — The corridor inside the visitors locker room at Gallagher-Iba Arena is packed. Any time Kelvin Sampson comes back to the state of Oklahoma, it’s something of a reunion scene. And Kevin Bookout, one of Sampson’s former University of Oklahoma big man, is here with his entire family. University of Houston’s current big man JoJo Tugler picks up a box of pizza and a few Gatorade bottles for the plane road home. Someone notes Tugler didn’t foul out. Sampson hears this and calls out to Tugler, “JoJo, if you foul out again, you’re sitting next to Maisy.

That’d be Kelvin Sampson’s 8-year-old granddaughter Maisy Jade, whose standing next to grandpa. Maisy grins and Tugler extends one of his long Plastic Man arms around a person to give her a high five. UH assistant coach Hollis Price, a University of Oklahoma basketball legend who’s been through plenty of Bedlam battles with Oklahoma State, is surrounded by another crowd of people. When you pull off a win like Sampson’s Houston team does to close out its regular season — clawing back from 13 points down in a Big 12 road game to roar by Oklahoma State 82-75 — it’s important to enjoy it. Together. For at least a moment before the impending pressure of March pulls you back in.

“We know what we did to get here,” Tugler tells PaperCity. “It’s not our first battle. Not our first time being down.”

Bring on the Madness. This growth squad now looks ready.

This much younger — and arguably much more naturally talented — version of a Kelvin Sampson team is starting to figure more things out with its first Big 12 Tournament game approaching on Thursday night in Kansas City (6 pm against BYU, West Virginia or Kansas State) and the real deal NCAA Tournament beckoning the week after (with the Cougars’ run all but assuredly beginning with a Thursday, March 19 game in Oklahoma City). Despite the fouls called on count standing at Houston 16 and Oklahoma State 3 at one point in the second half of the regular season closer, this UH team finds a way. Flipping the game the way a Real Housewife flips a table.

“That’s March,” Houston assistant coach Kellen Sampson tells PaperCity. “That’s March. Some fluky, weird stuff happens in March. We’ve got a young bunch so the opportunity to keep exposing them to the fickleness of March, this was an awesome, awesome learning moment for them.

“Weird stuff happens in March. That’s why it’s Madness.”

Kingston Flemings, the blur of a teenage point guard who seems destined to be a Top 6 pick in June’s NBA Draft, cannot wait for the Madness. While Kelvin Sampson, in his 37th season as a college head coach, marvels at the fact that this Houston team relying on four freshmen in critical roles manages to go 26-5 (14-4 in the Big 12) and finish a solo second in the best conference in college basketball, Flemings doesn’t like the taste of second.

“For me, I wanted to win,” Flemings tells PaperCity. “Honestly. Second place. I’m glad we got second place. But I wanted to win. I mean obviously Big 12’s a good conference. But we could have played better in some games.”

The ultra-competitive Kingston Flemings says second the way that someone on Succession would spit out the designation economy class. You get the sense it’s almost offensive to his core being, the winning he’s all about. Flemings is playing like he’s ready to right some wrongs. The 13-point, nine-assist, five-rebound line he puts up against Oklahoma State marks his third straight game (all UH wins) with at least seven assists.

This run comes after Kelvin Sampson sat his freshman point guard down and told him to stop trying to play like Allen Iverson and take on the burden all himself — a meeting which PaperCity exclusively detailed. Since that Sampson office sit-down, Flemings has put up 24 assists to only four turnovers in 102 minutes of game action.

Bring on the Madness. This growth squad now looks ready.

The Chase McCarty, X-Factor

Flemings draws the assist on four of redshirt freshman wing Chase McCarty’s career-high six threes. Fellow point guard Milos Uzan (11 points and five assists in a game-high 37 minutes) gets the assist on the other two McCarty triples. This is how UH’s Double Point Guard lineup is supposed to work — with multiple creators finding the hot hand. As McCarty sinks his sixth triple in his first 20-point game as a Cougar off an Uzan swing pass, Milos Uzan’s dad Mike Uzan and McCarty’s girlfriend Anna Amara high five in the stands.

There is a reason Kellen Sampson calls McCarty “an alpha personality,” one who seems destined for a future lead role.

McCarty’s injured wrist on his non-shooting hand is still painful during these games. Still requires a brace when he’s not playing. Still hurts. Still won’t heal till an offseason of rest.

“I still feel it for sure,” McCarty says as he walks towards Houston’s waiting bus. “But it definitely helps my confidence with a game like that. For sure. I feel like we’re playing better than we were. But we definitely still have another level to us.”

That is the thing, the biggest promise really. This particular unusual Houston team is 26-5, done with its regular season, and still growing. Tugler, the unicorn of a game changer with that otherworldly 7-foot-6 wingspan, plays 33 minutes against Oklahoma State the game after logging 30 minutes against Baylor. Tugler is averaging 13.3 points per game over the last three contests with five blocks, four steals and only seven fouls in that stretch.

If this can continue, Kelvin Sampson’s team is as national championship primed as any squad in America.

University of Houston coach Kelvin Sampson to @PaperCityMag in a one-on-one interview on his Cougars going 26-5 (14-4 Big 12) and finishing a solo second in nation’s toughest basketball conference: “Are you kidding? Playing four freshmen? If you would have told me that. . . One… pic.twitter.com/gxNx0iIQpk

— Chris Baldwin (@ChrisYBaldwin) March 8, 2026

That is the worry for another day though. On this one, Kelvin Sampson emerges from that visitors locker room to find the family of Reggie Chaney, the beloved former Cougar who died much too soon at age 23 in 2023, waiting for him. Reggie’s little sister Damia rushes into Sampson’s arms for a hug.

This Sampson world does not discard people. It brings more in — and holds them tight. That is why Kevin Bookout comes, why he wants his kids to be part of it. Across the lobby, Emanuel Sharp is celebrating his 22nd birthday with his parents Derrick Sharp and Justine Ellison Sharp. The stepback deep three that Sharp hits with Houston clinging to a 74-73 lead with 81 seconds remaining is the single biggest shot of this Oklahoma State win. But its the play of Sharp’s young teammates that gives him the chance to rise to another March moment.

Now the tournaments are starting for Houston on Thursday night. When I note that the true win-or-go-home stakes don’t start until the NCAA Tournament itself, Kingston Flemings quickly corrects me. Pointing to that Big 12 Tournament.

“It’s win or go home for us,” Flemings says of the Big 12. “We’re trying to win the conference tournament. We’re excited to be a two seed. It’s a good opportunity.”

Kingston Flemings does not want to finish second again. No one in Kelvin Sampson’s world does.

Bring on the Madness. This growth squad now looks ready.