The 2026–27 Houston Cougars men's basketball team will represent the University of Houston in the 2026–27 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Cougars will be led by 13th-year head coach Kelvin Sampson, and will play their home games at the Fertitta Center as fourth-year members of the Big 12 Conference.
Previous season As the No. 2 seed in the 2026 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 BYU, 73–66, to advance to the semifinals, where they would defeat Kansas, 69–47, to advance to the championship game, where they were defeated by No. 1 seed Arizona, 79–74.
Houston received a bid to the 2026 NCAA tournament, as the No. 2 seed in the South Region. They were seeded in the South region. There, they defeated Idaho, 78–44, in the First round, Texas A&M, 88–57, in the Second round. They were defeated by Illinois, 55–65, in the Sweet Sixteen. They finished the season 30–7 overall and 14–4 in conference play and finished ranked No. 7 in the AP Poll.
Offseason Departing players Houston Departing Players Isiah Harwell 1 G 6'6" 220 Freshman Pocatello, ID Transferred to Gonzaga Ramon Walker Jr. 3 G 6'5" 215 Senior Pearland, TX Graduated Kingston Flemings 4 G 6'4" 190 Freshman San Antonio, TX Declared for the 2026 NBA draft; selected 8th overall by the Atlanta Hawks Chris Cenac Jr. 5 F/C 6'11" 240 Freshman New Orleans, LA Declared for the 2026 NBA draft; selected 27th overall by the Boston Celtics Milos Uzan 7 G 6'4" 195 Senior Las Vegas, NV Graduated Cedric Lath 8 C 6'10" 265 Junior Abidjan, Ivory Coast Transferred to Nevada Jacob McFarland 13 C 6'11" 225 Sophomore Moreno Valley, CA Transferred to Pacific Kalifa Sakho 14 F 6'11" 230 Graduate Student Rouen, France Exhausted eligibility Emanuel Sharp 21 G 6'3" 210 Senior Tampa, FL Graduated/declared for the 2026 NBA draft; selected 45th overall by the Sacramento Kings
Incoming transfers Houston incoming transfers Corey Hadnot II 2 G 6'2" 185 Senior Atlanta, GA Purdue Fort Wayne Braden East 4 F 6'9" 250 Junior Houston, TX Lamar Chendall Weaver 7 G 6'3" 180 Graduate Student Mansfield, TX Texas Dedan Thomas Jr. 9 G 6'1" 180 Senior Las Vegas, NV LSU Delrecco Gillespie 23 F 6'8" 240 Graduate Student Benton Harbor, MI Kent State
2026 recruiting class
Preseason The Big 12 preseason coaches & media poll will be released in October 2026. All awards will be voted on by the league's 16 head coaches, who can not vote for their own team or players.
Big 12 Preseason Coaches Poll Big 12 CoachesPoints 1. Arizona 2.Arizona State 3.Baylor 4.BYU 5.Cincinnati 6.Colorado 7.Houston 8.Iowa State 9.Kansas 10.Kansas State 11.TCU 12.Texas Tech 13.Oklahoma State 14.UCF 15.Utah 16.West VirginiaReference: (#) first-place votes
Big 12 Preseason Media Poll Big 12 MediaPoints 1. Arizona 2.Arizona State 3.Baylor 4.BYU 5.Cincinnati 6.Colorado 7.Houston 8.Iowa State 9.Kansas 10.Kansas State 11.TCU 12.Texas Tech 13.Oklahoma State 14.UCF 15.Utah 16.West VirginiaReference:
Award watch lists Listed in the order that they were released
Roster
Schedule and results
!colspan=12 style=""| Exhibition
!colspan=12 style=""| Non-conference regular season
!colspan=12 style=""|
!colspan=12 style=""|
Source:
Rankings
References