Kingston Flemings Makes Houston Cougars History With Major Accolade
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The Houston Cougars get ready for the next phase of the 2025-26 season as they prepare for the Big 12 Tournament, in which they earned the No. 2 seed and received a double-bye after posting a 26-5 record with a 14-4 mark in Big 12 play.
For the first time since joining the Big 12 ahead of the 2023-24 season, the Cougars did not get ahold of the Big 12 regular-season title this year after winning that title for their first two years in the conference after finishing two games behind regular-season champion the Arizona Wildcats.
The Cougars look to add to their already padded regular-season resume with a run in the Big 12 Tournament as they look to repeat as tournament champions for the second year in a row. And as the Cougars chase a better seeding in the NCAA Tournament, one of their top players is earning high-level honors.
Kingston Flemings Named a Second-Team All-American
On Wednesday, star freshman guard Kingston Flemings made history by becoming the first freshman in Houston program history to earn All-American honors after being named a second-team All-American by The Sporting News on Tuesday.
As a freshman, Flemings has paced the Cougars in points, assists, and steals, averaging 16.5 points while shooting 48.3 percent from the field and almost 40 percent from beyond the arc, as well as 5.4 assists and 1.5 steals a game.
Flemings was among some of the top names in the country, on the second team, joined by Florida forward Thomas Haugh, Purdue's Braden Smith, the only other freshmen who earned second team All-American honors in Illinois' Keaton Wagler, and Texas Tech's JT Toppin.
The Sporting News' first-team All-American squad consisted of Arkansas' Darius Acuff Jr., the only guard on the first team, Duke's Cameron Boozer, BYU's AJ Dybantsa, Iowa State's Joshua Jefferson and Michigan's Yaxel Lendeborg.
The second-team honor is not the only accolade Flemings is earning after his stellar freshman season, as he also earned unanimous selection to both the All-Big 12 Conference Team and the Big 12 All-Freshman Team, as well as being named a finalist for the Bob Cousy Award, presented to the nation's top collegiate point guard by the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame..
The freshman's biggest game of the season came in the Coogs' loss on the road to Texas Tech, in which Flemings recorded 42 points while shooting 57 percent from the field, along with six assists, two steals, and two rebounds.
The 42-point game came with some history as Flemings set a new Houston freshman scoring record and became the fifth freshman in Big 12 history with 40 points in a road game.
Now Flemings will look to continue his history-making freshman campaign as the Cougars get ready for a showdown against another top freshman in AJ Dybantsa as they take on the BYU Cougars in the Quarterfinal round of the Big 12 Tournament on Thursday at 6 PM.
