The 2023–24 Houston Cougars men's basketball team represented the

University of Houston The University of Houston (; ) is a Public university, public research university in Houston, Texas, United States. It was established in 1927 as Houston Junior College, a coeducational institution and one of multiple junior colleges formed in ...

in the

2023–24 NCAA Division I men's basketball season The 2023–24 NCAA Division I men's basketball season began on November 6, 2023. The regular season ended on March 17, 2024, with the 2024 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament beginning with the First Four on March 19 and ending with th ...

. The Cougars were led by tenth-year head coach

Kelvin Sampson Kelvin Dale Sampson (born October 5, 1955) is an American college basketball coach, currently the head coach for the University of Houston of the Big 12 Conference. Early life Sampson was born in Laurinburg, North Carolina, to parents who were m ...

. The team played their home games at the

Fertitta Center The Fertitta Center, formerly known as Hofheinz Pavilion, is a 7,100-seat multi-purpose arena on the University of Houston campus in Houston. Located at 3875 Holman Street, it is home to the Houston Cougars men's and women's basketball teams and ...

as first-year members of the

Big 12 Conference The Big 12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. It consists of 16 full-member universities (3 private universities and 13 public universities) in the states of Arizona, Colorado, Florida ...

. Houston finished the regular season 28–3, 15–3 in conference play, and were regular-season champions of the Big 12 in their first year in the conference. In the Big 12 tournament, Houston defeated

TCU TCU may stand for: Education * Tanzania Commission for Universities, regulatory body for Universities in Tanzania * Texas Christian University, a private university in Fort Worth, Texas ** TCU Horned Frogs, the athletic programs of the school * Tok ...

and

Texas Tech Texas Tech University (Texas Tech, Tech, or TTU) is a public research university in Lubbock, Texas, United States. Established on February 10, 1923, and called Texas Technological College until 1969, it is the flagship institution of the five- ...

before losing to

Iowa State Iowa State University of Science and Technology (Iowa State University, Iowa State, or ISU) is a public land-grant research university in Ames, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1858 as the Iowa Agricultural College and Model Farm, Iowa State be ...

in the championship game. They received an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament as the #1 seed in the South Regional. They defeated Longwood in the First Round and

Texas A&M Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, TA&M, or TAMU) is a public university, public, Land-grant university, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas, United States. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of ...

in overtime in the Second Round to advance to their fifth consecutive Sweet Sixteen appearance. There they were defeated by

Duke Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of Royal family, royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and above sovereign princes. As royalty or nobi ...

after losing their starting point guard,

Jamal Shead Jamal Daniel Shead ( ; born July 24, 2002) is an American professional basketball player for the Toronto Raptors of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the Houston Cougars. Early life and high school career ...

, to an ankle sprain during the game.

Previous season

The

Cougars The cougar (''Puma concolor'') (, '' KOO-gər''), also called puma, mountain lion, catamount and panther is a large small cat native to the Americas. It inhabits North, Central and South America, making it the most widely distributed wild ...

finished the 2022–23 season 29–2, 17–1 in AAC play to win the AAC regular season championship. They defeated East Carolina and

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ; colloquially nicknamed Cincy) is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the northern side of the confluence of the Licking River (Kentucky), Licking and Ohio Ri ...

to advance to the AAC tournament championship game where they lost to

Memphis Memphis most commonly refers to: * Memphis, Egypt, a former capital of ancient Egypt * Memphis, Tennessee, a major American city Memphis may also refer to: Places United States * Memphis, Alabama * Memphis, Florida * Memphis, Indiana * Mem ...

. They received an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament as the #1 seed in the Midwest Regional. They defeated

Northern Kentucky Northern Kentucky is an urban area in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), U.S. Commonwealth of Kentucky consisting of the southern part of the Cincinnati metropolitan area. The three main counties of the area are Boone County, Kentucky, Boone, Kent ...

and Auburn to advance to the Sweet Sixteen for the fourth consecutive year. There they lost to Miami (FL). On November 28, 2022, the team reached the number one ranking in the AP Poll, marking the first time they had held the top spot since

1983 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning of the ...

. The season marked Houston's last as a member of the AAC. They became a member of the

on July 1, 2023.

Offseason

Departing players

Incoming transfers

2023 recruiting class

Roster

Schedule and results

, - !colspan=12 style=, Exhibition , - !colspan=12 style=, Non-conference regular season , - !colspan=12 style=, Big 12 regular season , - !colspan=12 style=, Big 12 tournament , - !colspan=12 style=, NCAA tournament Source

Rankings

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2023-24 Houston Cougars men's basketball team

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

Houston Cougars men's basketball seasons

2023 in Houston 2024 in Houston