The 2010–11 Houston Cougars men's basketball team represented the

University of Houston The University of Houston (UH) is a Public university, public research university in Houston, Texas. Founded in 1927, UH is a member of the University of Houston System and the List of universities in Texas by enrollment, university in Texas ...

in the

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

2010–11 season. It is their 66th year of season play. The head coach for the Cougars was James Dickey, who was serving in his 1st year in that position. The team played its home games at Hofheinz Pavilion on-campus in

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...

and are members of

Conference USA Conference USA (C-USA or CUSA) is an intercollegiate athletic conference whose current member institutions are located within the Southern United States. The conference participates in the NCAA's Division I in all sports. C-USA's offices are l ...

. With a win over #19

UCF The University of Central Florida (UCF) is a public research university whose main campus is in unincorporated Orange County, Florida. UCF also has nine smaller regional campuses throughout central Florida. It is part of the State University ...

during mid-season play, Houston defeated a nationally ranked opponent at home for the first time since the 2005 season.

Roster

Trumaine Johnson played ten games with Houston during the season, but left the team due to "personal reasons" on January 14, 2011.

Incoming recruits

This season, Houston had five incoming recruits. Freshman Joe Young, who is the son of Phi Slama Jama-era Houston player and former

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United St ...

player Michael Young, had originally committed and signed a

National Letter of Intent National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, ce ...

(NLI) to play at

Providence Providence often refers to: * Providentia, the divine personification of foresight in ancient Roman religion * Divine providence, divinely ordained events and outcomes in Christianity * Providence, Rhode Island, the capital of Rhode Island in the ...

, but chose to play for Houston instead. Although Young requested a release from his NLI, Providence head coach

Keno Davis Keno Emlen Davis (born March 10, 1972) an American basketball coach who is the head coach for the Flint United. He was most recently the men's basketball head coach at Central Michigan University. Davis was previously head coach at Drake Universi ...

denied it. Young then appealed to the National Letter of Intent advisory committee, but the denial was upheld. Due to the rules of the NCAA, Young is being treated as a transfer student, and is required to sit-out for all games this season. However, he will be eligible to play during the 2011–12 season. Trumaine Johnson transferred to Houston from

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the List of United States cities by population, eigh ...

where he played as a guard. Johnson cited racial discrimination against the

University of San Diego The University of San Diego (USD) is a private Roman Catholic research university in San Diego, California. Chartered in July 1949 as the independent San Diego College for Women and San Diego University (comprising the College for Men and Schoo ...

, and is currently suing the school. Johnson played ten games with Houston until he sustained an ankle injury. Following the injury, he remained with the team for the next four games, but did not play. On January 14, 2011, it was announced that Johnson had left the team for personal reasons. Houston had several other recruits, but granted releases to them prior to the beginning of the season. Marial Dhal, a 7' 3" center from

Uganda }), is a landlocked country in East Africa East Africa, Eastern Africa, or East of Africa, is the eastern subregion of the African continent. In the United Nations Statistics Division scheme of geographic regions, 10-11-(16*) territor ...

, originally committed to Houston on May 1, 2010 and signed an NLI, but was granted a release after head coach

Tom Penders Thomas Vincent Penders (born May 23, 1945) is an American retired college basketball coach, who last coached from 2004 through 2010 at the University of Houston. He is from Stratford, Connecticut and has a 649–437 career record. As a college ath ...

stepped down from his position. He then committed, and began play for

Canisius Canisius may refer to: People * Saint Peter Canisius (1521–1597), Dutch Jesuit Catholic priest * Theodorich Canisius (1532–1606), Jesuit academic, half-brother of St. Peter Canisius * Henricus Canisius (1562–1610), Dutch canonist and historia ...

. In a similar fashion, Devon Lamb, who had verbally committed to Houston on February 15, 2010, chose to play for Lamar also due to a change of staff. Fabyon Harris of

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

originally committed on May 10, 2010, and eventually signed an NLI to Houston, but was granted a release for "personal and family" reasons on August 16, 2010. He then committed to playing for

Howard College Howard College is a community college in the U.S. state of Texas with its main campus in Big Spring and branch campuses in San Angelo and Lamesa. History Howard County Junior College was established in Big Spring in 1945. 148 students be ...

in the NJCAA, but was dismissed from the team before the season began following an arrest in which Harris had shoplifted a television from a Wal-Mart retail store in

Big Spring, Texas Big Spring is a city in and the county seat of Howard County, Texas, United States, at the crossroads of U.S. Highway 87 and Interstate 20. With a population of 27,282 as of the 2010 census, it is the largest city between Midland to the west, A ...

with two other teammates.

Schedule

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2010-11 Houston Cougars men's basketball team

Houston Cougars men's basketball seasons