The Houston Cougars are preparing to mount a defense of their Big 12 Conference regular-season title as they enter the 2024-25 season.
The Cougars went 32-5 a season ago, their first in the Big 12. Houston came in and only lost three league games, and two of them were early in the slate. The Cougars looked like they fit right in, and no doubt coach Kelvin Sampson’s time at Oklahoma helped them adjust to the rigors of the slate.
Houston will play a non-conference game at nearby Toyota Center in Houston the first week of the season. They’ll also road trip to Las Vegas for the Players Era Impact Tournament, the new NIL-laden tournament sure to draw attention. Houston will also face Butler in the Big 12-BIG EAST Challenge.
Houston’s schedule features 11 non-conference games and 20 Big 12 games, the latter being the first time the conference has fielded a 20-game league schedule.
That schedule will take place over 10 weeks with no break, meaning by the time the Cougars get to their first Big 12 Tournament in March in Kansas City, they will have played two games a week for more than two months.
The Big 12 Tournament will be held March 11-15 at T-Mobile Arena and all 16 teams will participate. The exact format of the bracket will be announced at a later date.
Here is the entire schedule, with game times and television designations.
Houston Cougars Men’s Basketball 2024-25 Schedule
(all times local)
Nov. 4 vs. Jackson State, 7 p.m., ESPN+
Nov. 9 vs. Auburn@, 8:30 p.m., ESPNU
Nov. 13 vs. Louisiana, 7 p.m., ESPN+
Nov. 22 vs. Hofstra, 7 p.m., ESPN+
Nov. 26 vs. Alabama#, 7 p.m., TBS
Nov. 27 vs. Notre Dame#, 11:30 a.m., TBS
Nov. 30 vs. Rutgers#, 2:30 p.m., truTV
Dec. 7 vs. Butler$, 4:30 p.m., ESPN2
Dec. 10 vs Troy, 7 p.m., ESPN+
Dec. 18 vs. Toledo, 7 p.m., ESPN+
Dec. 21 vs. Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, 1 p.m., CBS Sports Network
Dec. 30 at Oklahoma State*, 7 p.m., ESPN+
Jan. 4 vs. BYU*, 1 p.m., ESPN+
Jan. 6 vs. TCU*, 8 p.m., ESPN2
Jan. 11 at Kansas State*, 5 p.m., ESPN+
Jan. 15 vs. West Virginia*, 7 p.m., ESPN+
Jan. 18 at UCF*, 11 a.m., CBS Sports Network
Jan. 21 vs. Utah*, 7 p.m., ESPN+
Jan. 25 at Kansas*, 5:30 p.m., ESPN/2
Jan. 29 at West Virginia*, 6 p.m., ESPN+
Feb. 1 vs. Texas Tech*, 5 p.m., ESPN/2
Feb. 4 vs. Oklahoma State*, 7 p.m., ESPN+
Feb. 8 at Colorado*, 3 p.m., ESPN+
Feb. 10 vs. Baylor*, 8 p.m., ESPN
Feb. 15 at Arizona*, 1 p.m., ESPN/2
Feb. 18 at Arizona State*, 8 p.m., ESPN/2
Feb. 22 vs. Iowa State*, 1 p.m., ESPN/2
Feb. 24 at Texas Tech*, 8 p.m., ESPN
March 1 vs. Cincinnati*, 3:30 p.m., CBS
March 3 vs. Kansas*, 8 p.m., ESPN2
March 8 at Baylor*, 8 p.m., ESPN2
March 11-15: Big 12 Tournament, Kansas City, Mo.
All home games in bold and at Fertitta Center, Houston, Texas; *-Big 12 Conference games; @-The Battleground 2k24, Toyota Center, Houston, Texas; #-Players Era Impact Tournament, Las Vegas, Nev.; $-Big 12-BIG EAST Battle; Big 12 Tournament is at the T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, Mo.
You can find Matthew Postins on Twitter @PostinsPostcard.
