How Kelvin Sampson Used An Allen Iverson Lesson To Recenter Kingston Flemings and Free Up Milos Uzan — a PaperCity Exclusive

Kelvin Sampson’s words stuck with Kingston Flemings, driving the point home so clearly that the talented NBA Lottery pick to be immediately started thinking of how different things could be. Should be. When Sampson pulled Flemings into his office for a one-on-one talk after this University of Houston basketball program’s blue supermoon rare three-game losing streak, the teenage phenom did not know what to expect.

Then Flemings’ fiery 70-year-0ld coach made him rethink his game with one measured line.

“He really talked to me about getting back to being myself,” Flemings tells PaperCity. “He said something to me. He said ‘You’re not Allen Iverson. You’re Kingston Flemings. So be Kingston Flemings.’ I think that really like stuck with me. I want to win so bad — so sometimes I think I just try to take it upon myself.

“But we have a great team. So I don’t have to score 30 or 40 to win. I can use my teammates.”

This is how Kelvin Sampson brought back the tantalizing original promise of University of Houston’s Double Point Guard Lineup, how he empowered Milos Uzan and urged Kingston Flemings to remember who he is, what truly makes him so special.

“I think I did a disservice to Milos,” Flemings tells PaperCity. “For me when I’m being aggressive and passing the ball, he gets really easy shots. But when I’m being kind of selfish and  just shooting, it kind of puts the strain on him to be more of a point guard. But we’re both point guards. We can both pass it. I think going forward, just continue to work on that.”

If you think this 24-5 Houston team hit any kind of wall during that grueling gauntlet of a three-game losing streak — at Iowa State, home to new Big 12 champion Arizona and at Kansas on Big Monday, all in a span of eight days — you might want to think again. For few coaches in America are better at tweaking and recalibrating a team than Kelvin Sampson. He’s bringing this one back to the future. To its Two Point Guard promise.

“Look at this last game,” Flemings says of 102-62 romp over Colorado. “I had 11 points, five shots, six rebounds, eight assists. When you play like that — so many people in double figures — it makes it harder for the teams. It was one of the easiest games for me to score because everyone on the court is scoring. You’ve got Milos being aggressive. Emanuel (Sharp) being aggressive.”

You’re not Allen Iverson. You’re Kingston Flemings.

With Kingston Flemings being Kingston Flemings, a more aggressive, freed-up Uzan puts up an ultra-efficient 26 points against Colorado on 13 shots, the most shots he’s taken in a game in two months. Since he bailed out Houston in its Big 12 opener at Cincinnati. More importantly, Flemings and Uzan get everyone involved, combining for 14 assists.

“And one turnover,” Kelvin Sampson quickly adds when I bring up the stat.

This is what UH’s Double Point Guard Lineup is supposed to look like. With Flemings turning rebounds into instant fast breaks. (He takes one coast to coast, but finds teammates for wide-open looks on several more). With Uzan hunting shots early in the shot clock (four of his five first half baskets come within the first eight seconds of a possession, a striking contrast to the Kansas loss when the shot clock kept running down on the Cougars).

“We’re good,” Uzan says. “But I think we can be a lot better.”

“He really talked to me about getting back to being myself. He said something to me. He said ‘You’re not Allen Iverson. You’re Kingston Flemings. So be Kingston Flemings.’ I think that really like stuck with me.” — Kingston Flemings on his talk with Kelvin Sampson

UH’s Double Point Guard Truths

It should be one of the most dynamic pairings in college basketball — and it has fascinated with its possibilities ever since PaperCity became the first outlet to detail Sampson’s plan to deploy a Double Point Guard Lineup of NCAA Tournament hero Milos Uzan and five star freshman Kingston Flemings back in October. Uzan and Flemings have started every game together this season, 29 straight and counting, and plenty of wins have followed. But it seldom seemed as seamless as the possibilities promised or as explosive as the talents involved suggested it could be.

But it sure did against Colorado, a decent Big 12 team that took BYU into overtime and lost by two points at home to Texas Tech. With only two regular season games (including Wednesday’s Senior Night game against Baylor) and next week’s Big 12 Tournament left before the real final exam proving ground of the NCAA Tournament begins, UH is back on the No. 2 seed line in all the major bracketologists’ NCAA Tournament seeding projections.

More importantly, its Double Point Guard lineup looks like an explosive combination again.

Sampson pulled both Uzan and Flemings into his office for separate one-one-one talks to help make it happen. While many have talked about Sampson’s meeting with Uzan, his sit-down with Flemings may have been even more important.

“I had a little talk with him,” Sampson says. “About some things I didn’t like what he was doing. But he came out and did exactly the things we needed him to do. Pushed the pace. Got to the rim, got to the paint.”

You’re not Allen Iverson. You’re Kingston Flemings.

Sampson’s message to Milos Uzan in their own one-on-one talk is not so different.

You’re Milos Uzan. You’re Special.

University of Houston coach Kelvin Sampson pulled senior guard Milos Uzan in for a long one-on-one talk between coach and player this week. “I thought Milos was starting to drift a little bit,” Sampson says. “I needed to get him back centered. Remind him of how good he was.

“How… pic.twitter.com/iGGyQZohoB

— Chris Baldwin (@ChrisYBaldwin) February 28, 2026

These one-on-one chats are an example of what Houston assistant coach Kellen Sampson calls his Hall of Fame nominated father/mentor’s innate feel for what his team needs in a specific moment. His gift for bringing out the best in players. “What he’s the best at is he doesn’t get caught in the winds of a problem,” Kellen Sampson tells PaperCity. “He gets right to the eye of the problem.”

Houston assistant Kellen Sampson to @PaperCityMag on his dad, Kelvin Sampson, being built for this rare moment of UH doubt: “You don’t achieve or attain Hall of Fame status because it’s always smooth skies and easy turbulence. As the adage goes, a skilled captain doesn’t get made… pic.twitter.com/ey7gdPmvzr

— Chris Baldwin (@ChrisYBaldwin) February 27, 2026

Blending an experienced veteran point guard with a highly-touted freshman lead guard is one of the most challenging mixes to pull off in college basketball. It’s blown up on plenty of teams over the years. Kelvin Sampson is defying that trend by doubling down on empowering Uzan and Flemings, urging them to take ownership. It helps to have a vet as comfortable in his own skin as Uzan, a guy who already carries himself like a pro’s pro. And it helps to have the rare freshman in Flemings who is self aware and responsible enough to volunteer: “I think I did a disservice to Milos.” That’s remarkable grace from a teenager seemingly destined for stardom.

You’re not Allen Iverson. You’re Kingston Flemings.

Kelvin Sampson has nothing against Allen Iverson’a game. He’s used plenty of shoot-first lead guards to great effect over his 46-year coaching career. But that is not who Kingston Flemings is at his best. Not what brings out the best in this Houston team.

“He also told me I need to be a better practice player,” Flemings says as he walks down the hall after Monday’s practice, having spent an extra hour in the gym post practice. “So I think just really locking in on practice. Bringing our energy every single day. He also told me I need to try and be more of a leader.

“I try to be a leader in the games, but he says you need to be a leader in the game and in practice. . . Showing that I’m going to show up every single day in practice, it makes the team trust me more as a leader and allows me to talk more.”

Kelvin Sampson pulled both Milos Uzan and Kingston Flemings in to talk. Now it’s on the double point guards to keep the conversation, and the ball, moving.

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.