W hen 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

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