CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Junior guard Phlandrous Fleming Jr. was named to the 2019 Big South Preseason All-Conference First Team and Charleston Southern was voted fifth in the preseason coaches' poll, as announced Tuesday at the league's annual Basketball Media Day.

A guard from Athens, Ga., Fleming earned his first preseason All-Conference honor after scoring 12.5 points and 5.5 rebounds per contest while shooting .402 from the floor as a sophomore. Fleming missed most of the nonconference schedule but returned to the CSU lineup with four-straight games in doubles figures including back-to-back 20-point efforts at Hampton and Longwood.

Big South Conference release

Fleming leads all CSU returners in scoring playing in 22 games as a sophomore and getting the starting nod in 11 contests. He also scored in double figures 16 times last season while securing three double-doubles versus Hampton, Winthrop and Presbyterian – three of the leagues' top teams a season ago.

Fleming earned All-Freshman Team honors from the Big South his rookie campaign and finished runner-up for Freshman of the Year honors. He finished second in scoring among rookies with 10.6 points per contest and led all freshmen in steals (1.2 spg) leading the way in a 1-3-1 defense that ranked 17th nationally in forced turnovers. Fleming's accolade makes it three-straight seasons a Buccaneer has been named to the first team preseason All-Big South team.

The Bucs as a whole return 11 members from last season's Big South semifinals squad including All-Freshman member Dontrell Shuler. CSU enters 2019-20 fresh off their first appearance in the CollegeInsider.com Tournament (CIT) where they downed Florida Atlantic from C-USA before falling to Big South foe Hampton.

Those 11 returners, as well as the recruiting done by head coach Barclay Radebaugh and his staff, led to a preseason No. 5 rank in the Big South, as voted on by conference head coaches and media members. CSU earned 190 points in the preseason poll, just eight behind Hampton, making it back-to-back seasons the Bucs were predicted to finish fifth in the league.

Radford was voted the preseason favorite for a second-straight season while reigning champion Gardner-Webb was selected second. The Runnin' Bulldogs earned more first-place votes than the Highlanders, but Radford edged out Gardner-Webb in overall points.

Fleming and the Bucs tipoff their season Nov. 5 in the Buc Dome versus Columbia International before kicking off the road slate Nov. 8 at North Carolina A&T.

2019-20 Big South Preseason Poll
1. Radford (13)
2. Gardner-Webb (14)
3. Winthrop (2)
4. Hampton
5. Charleston Southern
6. Longwood
7. Campbell
8. High Point
9. UNC Asheville
10. Presbyterian
11. USC Upstate
() – First-place votes

2019-20 Big South Preseason All-Conference
First Team
*Carlik Jones, Radford
Jermaine Marrow, Hampton
Jose Perez, Gardner-Webb
Phlandrous Fleming Jr., Charleston Southern
DeVon Baker, UNC Asheville

Second Team
Josh Ferguson, Winthrop
Lorenzo Phillips, Longwood
Travis Fields Jr., Radford
Nate Johnson, Gardner-Webb
Cory Hightower, Presbyterian