The 2024–25 Houston Cougars men's basketball team represented the University of Houston in the 2024–25 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Cougars were led by 11th-year head coach Kelvin Sampson. The team played their home games at the Fertitta Center as second-year members of the Big 12 Conference.
With a win over Cincinnati on March 1, 2025, the Cougars clinched their second straight outright Big 12 regular season conference championship.
As the No. 1 seed in the 2025 Big 12 men's basketball tournament, held at T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, Missouri, Houston received a bye to the quarterfinals. There, they defeated Colorado, 77–68, to advance to the semifinals, where they defeated BYU, 74–54, to advance to the championship game, where they secured a 72–64 victory over Arizona to claim their first tournament title.
As the tournament champion, Houston received an automatic bid to the 2025 NCAA tournament, also as the No. 1 seed. They were seeded in the Midwest region. There, they defeated SIU Edwardsville, 78–40, in the first round, Gonzaga, 81–76, in the second round, Purdue, 62–60, in the Sweet Sixteen, and Tennessee, 69–50, in the Elite Eight to advance to their first Final Four since 2021. In the Final Four, they overcame a 14-point deficit to defeat Duke, 70–67, to advance to their first national championship since 1984. In the championship game, despite leading for nearly the entire game – the same thing Duke did to them in the Final Four – Houston ultimately lost to Florida, 65–63, denying them their first national title. Previous season The Cougars finished the 2023–24 season 28–3, 15–3 in Big 12 play to win the regular season championship in their first year in the conference. They defeated TCU and Texas Tech to advance to the Big 12 tournament championship game, where they lost to Iowa State. They received an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament as the No. 1 seed in the South Regional. They defeated Longwood in the First Round and Texas A&M in overtime in the Second Round to advance to their fifth consecutive Sweet Sixteen. There, they were defeated by Duke after losing starting point guard, Jamal Shead, to an ankle sprain during the game.
Offseason Departing players Houston departures Jamal Shead 1 G 6'1" 200 Senior Manor, TX Graduated/declared for the 2024 NBA draft; selected 45th overall by the Sacramento Kings Damian Dunn 11 G 6'5" 205 Senior Kinston, NC Graduated; transferred to Pittsburgh Ryan Elvin 20 G 6'1" 170 Senior Round Rock, TX Walk-on; graduated
Incoming transfers Houston incoming transfers Milos Uzan 7 G 6'4" 193 Junior Las Vegas, NV Oklahoma
2024 recruiting class
Preseason Big 12 preseason poll Big 12 CoachesPoints 1.Kansas215 (9) 2.Houston211 (5) 3.Iowa State194 (1) 4.Baylor185 5.Arizona179 (1) 6.Cincinnati140 7.Texas Tech135 8.Kansas State133 9.BYU116 10.TCU90 11.UCF83 12.Arizona State64 13.West Virginia62 14.Oklahoma State46 15.Colorado37 16.Utah30Reference: (#) first-place votes
Pre-Season All-Big 12 Team First Team Player SchoolCaleb LoveArizonaLJ CryerHoustonJ’Wan RobertsTamin LipseyIowa StateHunter Dickinson†Kansas† denotes unanimous selectionReference: Second Team Player SchoolNorchad OmierBaylorJeremy RoachKeshon GilbertIowa StateDajuan Harris Jr.KansasColeman HawkinsKansas State† denotes unanimous selectionReference: Player of the Year: Hunter Dickinson, Kansas Co-Newcomer of the Year: Jeremy Roach, Baylor & Coleman Hawkins, Kansas State Freshman of the Year: V. J. Edgecombe, Baylor
Roster
Schedule and results
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!colspan=12 style=""| Non-conference regular season
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Source
Rankings
References