Houston Cougars' Kingston Flemings Makes History Despite Loss
In this story:
The Houston Cougars looked to keep things rolling through the regular season, as the Cougars had built a 17-1 overall record and had been undefeated throughout conference play, winning their first five Big 12 matchups.
On the docket for Saturday was a challenging conference battle for the Cougars, having to travel to Lubbock to take on the No. 12 Texas Tech Red Raiders. Earlier in the season, the Coogs defeated the Red Raiders 69-65 at the Fertitta Center, and on Saturday, Texas Tech evened the season series, taking down the Cougars 90-86.
And while the Cougars now lose their second game of the season, dropping to a 17-2 record and losing their first conference game, moving to a 5-1 Big 12 record, the Cougars were in the game until the end, thanks to a huge performance from one of their freshmen.
Kingston Flemings has Signature Performance in Loss
While the Coogs will be leaving Lubbock with a loss, a positive takeaway that will come from the loss is that freshman guard Kingston Flemings continues to play not only as one of the best freshmen in the country but as one of the best players in the nation.
Flemings ended the game against the Red Raiders with a resounding career-high, scoring 42 points while shooting 57 percent from the field. The freshman was efficient across the board, making 15 out of his 26 field goal attempts, 4 out of his 9 three-point attempts, and cashing in on 8 of his 10 free throw attempts.
In his 38 minutes, Flemings was also a factor outside of just scoring the basketball, adding six assists, two steals, and two rebounds to his stat line. In the postgame press conference, head coach Kelvin Sampson praised the guard's impact on the game.
"Kingston put us on his back and put us in position to win the game," Sampson said. "We just didn’t do a very good job on the boards."
Not only was the performance a highlight in Flemings' young career, but the scoring outburst also comes with some historic feats as he set a new Houston freshman scoring record, became the fifth freshman in Big 12 history with 40 points in a road game, and the first Houston player to score 40 points in a game since Rob McKiver scored 52 on Feb. 27, 2008
Flemings' play throughout his freshman season has not gone unnoticed, as the guard was tabbed with a national honor, recognized as a midseason Third-Team All-American by The Sporting News. The freshman was the only Houston player who made any of The Sporting News' All-American teams.
