“We built a program with the core tenants of faith, family and passion,” Bruce Pearl said when he retired in September 2025. On Sunday, the “family” part was front and center. Pearl was just a dad in the stands, watching his son, Steven, face his first true test as Auburn’s new head coach. The stage was set for a perfect passing of the torch against #1 Houston. But instead, it turned into a Kingston Flemings show!

But Houston freshman Kingston Flemings didn’t quite follow this script. Playing with a poise that belied his age, Flemings torched the #22 Tigers for a game-high 22 points. More than just an offensive force, he proved to be the closer. With Auburn trailing 73-72 in the frantic final seconds, Tahaad Pettiford drove for the game-winning layup, but Flemings met him at the rim, blocking the shot and sealing the victory.

With his legendary father looking on, Steven Pearl was handed his first-ever loss as a head coach. It was a brutal 73-72 heartbreaker, delivered by a freshman who announced his arrival on the national stage.

With their first Quad 1 win of the 2025–26 season, Houston moved to 4–0 — not a perfect performance, but a strong one. And the freshmen duo of Kingston Flemings and Chris Cenac Jr. showed why Houston is the number 1 team in the country. Kingston Flemings was everywhere on the floor; he was in contention for a triple-double tonight after getting 5 rebounds and 7 assists to go alongside his 22 points mentioned above.

And even though Cenac fouled out with 3:22 left, he still came close to his second double-double in just four games, finishing with 18 points on 8-of-10 shooting (including 2-of-3 from deep) and nine rebounds.

But considering everything Auburn lost this season, this doesn’t feel like a surprising setback. Johni Broome is now with the Philadelphia 76ers, Dylan Cardwell is with the Sacramento Kings, and Denver Jones has graduated and is looking for his next team. Miles Kelly is playing for the Dallas Mavericks, and Chad Baker-Mazara is still in college but no longer with the Tigers — he’s suiting up for the USC Trojans instead.

The only player returning from last year’s team that faced the Florida Gators in the Final Four is Tahaad Pettiford, and only in college basketball do you see this kind of complete roster reset. But even with all those changes, the biggest loss wasn’t a player. It was their head coach, Bruce Pearl, who chose to step away from coaching altogether and start a new career in broadcasting.

You could see him firing up the 15,623 present inside the Legacy Arena every time a whistle went against Auburn. In a blink, Bruce Pearl went from the fiery, animated coach storming the sidelines to the angry dad in the stands, yelling at refs like he still had the challenge card in his pocketwhile Auburn struggled to deal with Flemings’ physicality. It’s the kind of sight you never expected to witness in 2025!

But for a man who single-handedly lifted Auburn basketball from rock bottom to a yearly title contender — and took them to two Final Fours along the way — Bruce Pearl has more than earned a breather. Now, he gets to watch his son carry the program forward while he shifts into an ambassador role. Yes, Pearl is still very much part of the Auburn family, serving as a special assistant to athletics director John Cohen, continuing to support the program he helped build.

Speaking of Bruce Pearl and his unexpected retirement, he explained last month why he felt comfortable stepping away at 65.

Bruce Pearl reveals why he was comfortable retiring

While Pearl said over and over that he didn’t think he could give coaching his full 100% anymore — which played a big part in his decision — he also admitted that having his son already in the program gave him a sense of comfort. Steven Pearl has been with Auburn since 2014, starting as a strength and conditioning assistant, so Bruce knew he was leaving the team in safe hands.

Speaking to reporters at the Bruce, Barkley and Basketball Golf Classic three weeks after he retired, Pearl said, “Once I recognized too, that Steven was in position to be able to do this. I mean, there’s nobody that is –- there’s nobody, there’s not a coach in America that could have taken this staff and brought this entire team back and been in position to be able to continue to program the direction it’s going to go.”

Yes, Steven Pearl couldn’t find an answer for the freshman Flemings tonight, but you still can’t help being excited about what’s ahead for Auburn this season. Sure, they don’t look like the kind of roster that can repeat last year’s high of entering the Big Dance as the No. 1 team in the country, but there’s still plenty of talent in this group. Could they turn into the dark horses of the competition? It’s way too early to say — there’s a long road ahead — but with a 3–1 start to the season, it’s hard not to feel optimistic about the Steven Pearl era at Auburn.