‘I just love to compete.’ How Kingston Flemings is fitting in to Houston’s culture

When players commit to Houston men’s basketball, they know the physical demands of the program they signed up for.

They’ve read about the culture, heard the stories and seen it in person, long before they ever set foot in the Guy V. Lewis Development facility for the first time.

One week into Houston’s summer 2025 practices, and freshman point guard Kingston Flemings was already wearing that culture on his sleeves. 

The floor burns and scratches draped on his right arm couldn’t wipe away his smile, as he reflected on how summer practice had gone so far.

“It’s been everything I imagined. Hard days every single day, everything I signed up for,” Flemings said. “Practices have been hard, teammates have been great, coach (Kelvin Sampson) has been great. It’s been fun for sure.”

Flemings received offers from a slew of Texas’ top schools. Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Baylor and Houston were all among those in the running for one of the country’s top high school talents.

For Flemings, proximity wasn’t a selling point. All of the schools are within driving distance of his hometown of San Antonio, Texas. 

But only one boasted a national-title-contending pedigree and sustained success in March.

Why Houston?

“For me, I’m a winner, so I want to come in here and win national championships. That’s my main goal, and I can get it done here for sure,” Flemings said.

Following Houston’s national championship game defeat to Florida in April, Flemings, alongside his heralded freshman teammates in forward Chris Cenac Jr., guards Isiah Harwell and Bryce Jackson, got together on a phone call, determined to be the ones to deliver the program its first-ever national title.

“We’re at Houston. It’s a winning program; they just came off it (national championship game) last year, coach already knows what it is,” Flemings said. “We have the talent, we have the size, everything like that. It’s on us as players to work every single day and get it.”

Beyond Houston’s ascension to perennial national title contention, the point guard factory the program has become also caught Flemings’ eye. 

Seeing the way the Cougars have developed guards Jamal Shead, Galen Robinson Jr., Dejon Jarreau and Milos Uzan has Flemings confident the staff can do the same for him in his mission to one day become a professional player.

But he acknowledges players have to be committed to that development as well. 

“Just coming in here and working every single day and them (staff) being able to help me, me helping them. I think coming in here and trying to win, that’s the main thing,” Flemings said.

Freshman adjustment

While the lecture may vary in length, whenever anybody makes the ill-fated mistake of reminding coach Kelvin Sampson about any of his freshmen’s national rankings, the point is always the same. 

In his eyes, it is irrelevant. 

He’ll point out that none of them have ever played against college competition, where nearly every player was once the best player in their school, or even state. 

For Flemings, he never had to be defended by senior guards such as Ramon Walker Jr. or Emanuel Sharp, whom he goes as far as to consider the best defender in college basketball.

“You see, E (Emanuel Sharp), he’s the best defender in America. So playing against him, coming up on weekends playing one-on-one, it helps a lot,” Flemings said. “Playing E and Mo (Ramon Walker Jr.), you’re handling through bumps, playing through that. They’re the best defenders at being physical and not fouling.”

That same significant increase in physicality at the college level forced him to bulk up to withstand those bumps and contact.

Flemings, who weighed 170 pounds shortly after high school, has tacked on roughly 20 pounds over the summer, as he heads into the season.

“The biggest change from high school to college is the bumps,” Flemings said. “In any place, it’s not just fouling. Coming off screens, there’s a bump. Coming off a rebound, there’s a bump… I think coach (Alan) Bishop, the best strength coach in the game, got me to where I am and I feel strong, I feel good.”

Beyond acclimating to the intensity and rigors that have made Houston’s practices a proving ground for any Cougar that endures them, the transition has also shown him all his strengths and weaknesses. 

With the increase in pace of play, there’s an ever larger emphasis on quick decision-making, where a fraction of a second is the difference between finding a wide-open teammate or turning the ball over.

Executing those reads had its challenges, particularly on  “no turnover Thursdays.” 

Three turnovers amount to running one suicide, which involves running baseline to baseline. Any more than that, and the player has to run a shuttle, which requires even quicker movements.

“First day, I was getting assists, trying to create for our team. I ran twice, so that’s six turnovers,” Flemings said. “I had a decent amount of assists for sure, but the turnovers were definitely stacking up.” 

For all the individual progress Flemings has made, the next challenge was blending in alongside his fellow backcourt mate Uzan, who is already one of the most efficient passers in college basketball with his 3.0 assist-to-turnover ratio last season.

Despite playing the same position, Uzan’s withdrawal from the NBA draft didn’t complicate Flemings’ transition—it just accelerated it. 

Double trouble

Two freshmen were introduced as starters at the Fort Bend Epicenter for Houston’s exhibition game against Mississippi State: forward Chris Cenac Jr. and Flemings.

Starting alongside Uzan, the chemistry between the mentee and his mentor was already beginning to permeate.

In the first half, Flemings knifed to the middle of the floor, attracting defenders, before swinging a pass to a wide open Uzan in the corner who drained the spot-up 3-pointer. 

Uzan, who shot 42.8 percent from beyond the arc in the 2024-25 season, boasted the top shooting percentage among all Cougars last season. 

Later in the matchup, Flemings hauled in a defensive rebound and ran the fastbreak after a missed free throw from Mississippi State. 

Once again, Flemings found Uzan on the perimeter.

This time, after a series of moves, Uzan dished the ball back to a cutting Flemings, who finished a swirling layup over a Mississippi State defender. 

“Before coming here, I took a lot of risks, like with passing and stuff. I was turning the ball over,” Flemings said. “Seeing Milos play, Milos doesn’t turn the ball over really at all, so just learning to control the ball better.”

Being around Uzan throughout the offseason has provided a daily guide to composure at the point guard position, whether it’s pace, patience or listening. 

Uzan, who was just last year the new point guard in Houston and was learning everything that being a Cougar entails, is passing on those same lessons that were once drilled into him.

“He’s gonna surprise a lot of people this year,” Uzan said. “I think he’s a super humble kid, I think he’s super hard working and I think he’s a really good listener… I think he’ll go far.”

When Flemings was asked about his official Cougar debut on Monday against Lehigh, he admitted there’d be some nerves surrounding it. 

However, he quickly brushed it aside, reminding himself that it’s just basketball, the same game that he’s been playing his entire life. 

That perspective comes from his love for competing, something he’s carried into every sport he’s played, and the same one that makes him fit right in with Houston.

“For me, I just like to compete. Any sport I played. I played soccer, I played baseball, I played football,” Flemings said. “All kinds of sports. It’s not exactly basketball, but I just love to compete, and basketball is what I fell in love with.”

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