The University of Houston Men's Basketball program returns to action when it takes on No. 11 seed Syracuse at 8:55 p.m. (CDT) Saturday inside Hinkle Fieldhouse in the NCAA Tournament Midwest Region Sweet 16.

This marks the Cougars' 13th appearance in the NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 and the team's second straight berth.
 
The sixth-ranked and No. 2 seed Cougars earned their ticket to the Sweet 16 after taking a hard-fought 63-60 win over (10) Rutgers on Saturday night inside Lucas Oil Stadium.
 
Trailing by 10 in the second half, Houston used a 14-2 run over the final 4:55 to take the win against the Scarlet Knights. Freshman guard Tramon Mark snared an offensive rebound and put it back  up and in while being fouled to tie the game at 60-all and then drained the ensuing free throw to give the Cougars the lead for good with only 24 seconds remaining.
 
Sophomore guard Marcus Sasser then forced a Rutgers turnover on the next possession and converted both free throws for the final margin of victory.
 
This season, junior guard Quentin Grimes leads the Cougars with 18.1 points per game and ranks second on the team with 6.0 rebounds per contest.
 
The Woodlands, Texas, native became the first Cougar to earn All-America honor of any kind since 1999 and the first Cougar to be named to any of the first three All-America teams since 1984.