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Houston Cougars Unveil Complete MBB Schedule For Their Big 12 Debut Season

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Basketball

Seventeen regular-season home games and an Oct. 28 exhibition against UNC Pembroke inside the Fertitta Center highlight the University of Houston's Men's Basketball 2023-24 schedule after the Big 12 Conference released complete team conference schedules.

Under the leadership of Head Coach Kelvin Sampson, Houston enters a new era when it tips off in the Big 12 for the first time in 2023-24.

All 18 Big 12 games will be shown on the ESPN family of networks with two contests being aired on CBS Sports (vs. Texas, Feb. 17 / at Baylor, Feb. 24).

BIG 12 SCHEDULE
Houston will meet Cincinnati, Iowa State, Kansas, Texas and UCF in home-and away series. The Cougars meet Kansas State, Oklahoma State, Texas Tech and West Virginia in home games inside the Fertitta Center only and travel to face Baylor, BYU, Oklahoma and TCU on the road only.
 
The Cougars open league play when they play host to West Virginia inside the Fertitta Center on Saturday, Jan. 6. Houston goes on to meet Texas Tech (Jan. 17), UCF (Jan. 20) and Kansas State (Jan. 27) at home in the month with road tilts at Iowa State (Jan. 9), at TCU (Jan. 13), at BYU (Jan. 23) and at Texas (Jan. 29) to close out January.
 
In February, Houston opens the month against Kansas (Feb. 3) in the Cougars' first road trip to Lawrence, Kan., since Dec. 15, 1984. Additional road games in the month include at Cincinnati (Feb. 10) and at Baylor (Feb. 24) with home games against Oklahoma State (Feb. 6), Texas (Feb. 17), Iowa State (Feb. 19) and Cincinnati (Feb. 27) inside the Fertitta Center.
 
Sampson leads the Cougars into Norman, Okla., on Saturday, March 2, to face the Sooners. As head coach from 1994 to 2006, Sampson led the Oklahoma to 281 wins, four Big 12 regular-season and tournament titles, 11 NCAA Tournament appearances and the 2002 NCAA Final Four.
 
The Cougars close their regular-season road schedule at UCF on Wednesday, March 6, and play host to Kansas on Senior Day inside the Fertitta Center on Saturday, March 9.

NON-CONFERENCE SCHEDULE
The Cougars open their season when they meet UNC Pembroke – Sampson's alma mater – in an exhibition game on Saturday, Oct. 28, inside the Fertitta Center.

From there, Houston begins the regular season when it meets ULM on Monday, Nov. 6, inside the Fertitta Center. It will be the first time the Cougars meet the Warhawks since the 2015-16 season.

The Cougars close their brief homestand when they take on Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (Saturday, Nov. 11) and Stetson (Monday, Nov. 13).

Houston then hits the road for the first time to compete at the Charleston Classic inside TD Arena in Charleston, S.C. That tournament field includes Dayton, Towson, Utah, LSU, St. John's and North Texas with game times and networks to be announced at a later date.

The Cougars meet Montana for the first time since March 1947 when they close the month on Friday, Nov. 24, inside the Fertitta Center.

Houston opens the month of December at Xavier in Cincinnati on Friday, Dec. 1. That game will be part of the BIG EAST-Big 12 Battle and marks the first meeting against the Musketeers since the 1977-78 season.

After a pair of home contests against Rice (Wednesday, Dec. 6) and Jackson State (Saturday, Dec. 9) inside Fertitta Center, the Cougars face Texas A&M inside the Toyota Center in Houston as part of the H-Town Showdown.

Houston closes December with a pair of home contests against Texas State (Thursday, Dec. 21) and against Penn (Saturday, Dec. 30) inside the Fertitta Center before starting Big 12 play.

The non-conference game times and broadcasting networks will be announced soon.

ABOUT the COUGARS
In 2023-24, Houston returns five letterwinners and two starters from the 2022-23 team, which finished 33-4 to tie the school single-season record in wins, and competed in the NCAA Sweet 16, the fourth straight season in which the Cougars accomplished that feat.

Point guard Jamal Shead averaged 10.5 points, 3.0 rebounds and 5.4 assists per game a year ago while earning honors as the Conference Defensive Player of the Year. With 200 assists, he became only the second player in Houston history to record multiple 200+ assist seasons in his career, joining Houston great Reid Gettys in that category.

Senior forward J'Wan Roberts led the Cougars and ranked among the top league leaders with 7.7 rebounds per game and was honored as the Conference Most Improved Player of the Year.

Checkout the complete schedule here.