HOUSTON — On the day Illinois’ Keaton Wagler scored a Mackey Arena-record 46 points at Purdue in January, Kingston Flemings was having a pretty good showing too.

The Houston standout put up 42 points in a loss at Texas Tech. Both continued on from their best performances of the season to become among the six freshmen to be named to Associated Press All-America teams — Wagler the second team, Flemings the third team. Both are projected to be picked in the top 10 in the NBA draft.

Now, two of the country’s top freshmen guards will meet Thursday night at Toyota Center in the Sweet 16 when No. 2 seed Houston plays No. 3 seed Illinois (10:05 p.m. ET, TBS).

Wagler said he has played Flemings before, when he was in the fifth grade at a tournament in Houston, and thinks it will be fun to see him again.

“To see how much he has grown as a player, it’s really cool to see,” Wagler said. “He’s a really good player, so we’ll have our hands full with him. It will be awesome to match up against him.”

Flemings enters the game as the young Houston star between a pair of senior guards, Emanuel Sharp and Milos Uzan. He is averaging 16.2 points, 5.2 assists, four rebounds and 1.6 steals per game in leading the Cougars to a 30-6 record.

He’s one problem of many for the Illini defense.

“Someone who is very creative on the ball, has a lot in his toolbox in terms of scoring and sharing the ball,” Illinois’ Andrej Stojaković said. “Really a three-level scorer and playing with lot of confidence right now, as he has all year. But you’ve also got guys around him that can make shots. Uzan and Sharp are great shooters, and you’ve got (Chris) Cenac and (Joseph) Tugler who are very good in the paint.”

A rematch

Houston and Illinois played in the NCAA Tournament second round in 2022, and the Cougars smothered the Illini 68-53.

That Illini group, led by All-American center Kofi Cockburn, couldn’t get past Houston’s defense, which forced 17 turnovers and held them to 6 for 25 3-point shooting.

When reflecting on that game Wednesday, coach Brad Underwood said he thinks that team was more one-dimensional than the current Illinois team.

“I like our balance,” he said. “I think we’ve got multiple guys who can play. … We’ve seen teams that have trapped us and blitzed us before, so it’s not a first time, and we’ll see. Guys have got to make plays. Guys have got to make shots. And then you’ve got to do all the little things on the other end as well.”

Illinois knows the challenge ahead in a Houston defense that is ranked the fourth-best in the country, according to KenPom’s adjusted defensive efficiency ratings.

The Illini are ready for a physical game but believe their schedule has prepared them for what they will face.

“They’re lengthy,” Wagler said. “They play super hard. They’re physical. Our biggest thing is we have to play at our own pace. We can’t let them speed us up. We can’t turn the ball over. When they’re playing in rotations and trapping, we’ve got to get on the offensive glass.”

Big Ten dominance?

Three of the Big Ten’s six Sweet 16 teams are playing this week in the South Region, with Iowa and Nebraska meeting in the first game followed by the Illinois-Houston matchup.

Iowa coach Ben McCollum said the first- and second-round showing for the conference speaks to its amount of skilled players and experienced coaches. He and the other coaches also said playing in the Big Ten helped prepare their teams for the NCAA Tournament.

“The night-in night-out grind prepared us,” McCollum said. “I do think sometimes it can hurt you too, meaning you get exposed a lot and if you get exposed too much eventually it can break you. Fortunately we’ve got a really tough team and so it didn’t break us when we got exposed quite often. It just sharpened us up a little bit and got us ready for the postseason.”

Step up

McCollum is still fairly new to the Division I NCAA Tournament after making 12 appearances — and winning four national championships — in the Division II Tournament with Northwest Missouri State.

He led Drake to the D-I second round in his only season there last year and now has Iowa into the Sweet 16 in his first season in Iowa City.

That played into his lack of worry about Iowa’s turnaround from its Sunday upset of defending national champion and top-seeded Florida, at least from a physical and travel standpoint.

“This level is so bougie,” McCollum said. “We get back and then I get a text that says, ‘Be here at this time. The plane will be there. You will drive right up to the plane, you will get on the plane, everything will be done for you, the food will be there, all you have to do is bring your computer and scout.’ Then we get to the hotel. Everything’s perfectly set up.

“I’ve been at Division II for so long. I played junior college. You make your bus trips and you are ready to play. If you’re not ready to play for the Sweet 16, then you probably shouldn’t be here.”

(Not) neutral site

Underwood and his players downplayed their concerns about playing Houston in its home city.

“We’ve won on the road all year,” Underwood said. “It’s no different than going into West Lafayette or East Lansing or wherever. You’ve got to play the game. We’re going to have to play well. We’re going to have to be on point, and we’ll just treat it the same way. It’s something I can’t control, so surely I wouldn’t spend one second thinking about something I can’t control.”

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