{"id":348022,"date":"2026-06-24T04:12:09","date_gmt":"2026-06-24T04:12:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/348022\/"},"modified":"2026-06-24T04:12:09","modified_gmt":"2026-06-24T04:12:09","slug":"houston-cougars-roster-after-chris-cenac-jr-selected-no-27-overall-in-2026-nba-draft","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/348022\/","title":{"rendered":"Houston Cougars Roster After Chris Cenac Jr Selected No. 27 Overall in 2026 NBA Draft"},"content":{"rendered":"

The 2026 NBA Draft <\/a>took place on Tuesday, June 23 at 7 p.m., and 30 athletes had the opportunity to fulfill their dreams of playing at the highest level.<\/p>\n

Two Houston Cougars were included in that bunch with Kingston Flemings being selected No. 8 overall to the Hawks and Chris Cenac Jr. following landing with the Boston Celtics with the No. 27 pick.<\/p>\n

Now without Cenac on the roster, how will Houston\u2019s forwards\/centers look for next season?<\/p>\n

What Cougars Will Step Up in Chris Cenac\u2019s Absence?\"Chris<\/p>\n

Mar 19, 2026; Oklahoma City, OK, USA; Houston Cougars center Chris Cenac Jr. (5) signals to his team during a first round game of the men’s 2026 NCAA Tournament at Paycom Center. Mandatory Credit: Alonzo Adams-Imagn Images | Alonzo Adams-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

Cenac came to Houston as the No. 1 overall center in the 2025 class, and he was as advertised in his one-and-done season with the Cougars.<\/p>\n

Last year, he averaged 9.5 points and 7.9 rebounds per game, and he really showcased why so many NBA teams are really excited about his future.<\/p>\n

At just 19 years old, Cenac stands at 6-foot-11 and weighs 240 pounds. He has an ideal frame for a forward\/center at the next level and his main focus will be to continue to add size.<\/p>\n

In the modern NBA, everyone shoots three-pointers at a high level, and Cenac fits in that mold perfectly.<\/p>\n

In 2025, shot 33.3 percent from behind the arc, making him one of the best shooting bigs in all of college basketball.<\/p>\n

While he can shoot well from behind the arc, the best part of his game is his midrange shooting.<\/p>\n

Cenac going to the NBA is a huge loss for the Cougars; however, they have plenty of talent that can step up in his absence.<\/p>\n

Houston has a strong returner in senior forward Joseph Tugler, who has been the anchor of the Cougars\u2019 defense for the past three seasons.<\/p>\n

Going into 2025, he could very well be Houston\u2019s next All-American if he can make the offensive strides that the coaching staff believes he can make.<\/p>\n

With Tugler as the leader of the defense, Houston also brought in senior forward Delrecco Gillespie, who is known for his rebounding and scoring ability around the rim.<\/p>\n

Last year, he averaged 17.7 points, 11.3 rebounds and just over a block and steal per game.<\/p>\n

While his offensive ability is well known, he will need to take a major step on defense to be able to fit in defensively.<\/p>\n

The final projected starter who will play significant minutes at either the three or four is sophomore Chase McCarty, who arguably made the biggest jump last season of any returner.<\/p>\n

While he only averaged 12.3 minutes per game last season, he showed sparks of what he is called of in several games towards the end of the season. <\/p>\n

Against Oklahoma State, he scored a career-high 20 points which really earned him more minutes going forward.<\/p>\n

He also was a lone bright spot in Houston\u2019s NCAA Tournament loss to Illinois, where he scored nine points on three made three-pointers to keep Houston in the game.<\/p>\n

The final two players that will add much-needed depth to this team is 5-star freshman center Arafan Dian\u00e9 and Lamar transfer Braden East.<\/p>\n

While Cenac had an incredible rookie season with the Cougars, it is safe to say Houston has a strong enough mix of returners, transfer and incoming freshman where Houston will remain highly competitive in 2026.<\/p>\n

\"\"Add us as a preferred source on GoogleFollow<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The 2026 NBA Draft took place on Tuesday, June 23 at 7 p.m., and 30 athletes had the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":348023,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[56,58,57],"class_list":["post-348022","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-houston","tag-houston","tag-houston-headlines","tag-houston-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/348022","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=348022"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/348022\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/348023"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=348022"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=348022"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=348022"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}