The Houston Cougars have landed a No. 2 seed in the 2026 NCAA Tournament, as announced by the selection committee on Sunday night. Houston is coming off of a 79-74 loss in the Big 12 Championship Game to Arizona on Saturday night in Kansas City. Houston will take on No. 15 seed Idaho on Thursday. If they win, they will play the winner of No. 7 Saint Mary’s and No. 10 Texas A&M on Saturday.
Houston’s 2025-26 Basketball Season
Kelvin Sampson and the Houston Cougars had yet another dominant year, however this time, it did not end with a regular season or tournament championship. It’s a new territory for the program, as they have been the standard for Big 12 success since joining the league.
Still, Houston had immense amounts of success, going 28-6 overall and 14-4 in conference play. That mark was good for second in the league behind Tommy Lloyd and the Arizona Wildcats, who look every bit of a national title contender. For Houston’s standards, it could technically be considered a down year, but thee program implemented a bit of a new strategy with multiple freshman on the court, something that Kelvin Sampson hasn’t done often.
The main ones of note, who will likely be departing for the NBA at the end of the year are Kingston Flemings (16.4PPG, 5.3APG, 3.9RPG), and Chris Cenac Jr. (9.5PPG, 7.5RPG), who have been a massive part of the Cougars’ dominance on both ends of the court. They are joined by veteran stars Milos Uzan, Emmanuel Sharp, and Jojo Tugler.
The Cougars are led by one of college basketball’s best coaches, Kelvin Sampson, who is in his 12th season in Houston and has gone 327-90 in his time with the program.
Houston’s NCAA Tournament History
From 1956-2025, the Houston basketball team reached the NCAA Division I tournament 26 times with an overall record of 45-31. The Cougars are coming off of a run to the National Championship Game in last year’s tournament, which they ended on the wrong side of a loss to Florida 63-65. They’ve made the Big Dance in seven straight seasons from 2018-2025 (2020 cancelled due to COVID-19), and have no interest in slowing down.
They’ve won at least two games in tournament play for the last five years, which has resulted in a laundry list of accomplishments. The program has been to the National Championship three times (1983,1984, and 2025), the Final Four seven times, the Elite Eight eight times, and the Sweet 16 17 times.
