Breaking Down Houston Basketball's 2026-27 Season Schedule
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The complete 2026-27 schedule for Houston Cougars basketball is now official. After some of the prominent non-conference games and the Big 12 schedule matrix were revealed, the whole slate was announced last week.
This is quite the action-packed schedule for Houston, who have to do a lot of traveling in the non-conference portion before having some pretty stellar matchups in the Fertitta Center for the Big 12 portion.
How the Non-Conference Schedule Looks
Houston has two exhibition games this year, with the first against Montana Tech on Oct. 15 at home. That's the program where Kelvin Sampson started his head coaching career. It's followed by a game against defending national champion Michigan in Grand Rapids on Oct. 25. The Cougars open the season on Nov. 2 against LaSalle and then travel out to Lake Tahoe, Nev. to face California on Nov. 8.
UH will then face Jacksonville State at home on Nov. 11. The Player's Era tournament in Las Vegas is right after that, as Houston will play three games from Nov. 17-19, beginning with Rutgers. An enticing rematch of the 2025 National Championship could take place against Florida before facing one of Auburn, West Virginia, Kansas, or UNLV on the last day.
The Cougars then have four straight home games, with one featuring Queens, who made the NCAA Tournament last year.
Houston travels to Madison Square Garden in New York in a big Jimmy V Classic showdown against Alabama on Dec. 8. The Cougars return and face LSU on Dec. 13 in Houston Hoopfest. They go against Florida State again, this time in Jacksonville, Fla. on Dec. 20. The final non-conference game is against Texas A&M- Corpus Christi on Dec. 29 at home.
Big 12 Schedule
Houston has an 18-game Big 12 schedule that features three home-and-away series this year. The Cougars face state rivals Texas Tech twice, first on Jan. 19 at home and then on Feb. 15 in Lubbock. Texas.
Houston also faces Arizona twice in two high-powered games, first on the road in Tucson, Ariz., on Feb. 6 and then in the final game of the season on March 6 at home. Houston also has two games against Colorado, with the road game on Jan. 16 and the home game on Feb. 24.
The Cougars open up the conference schedule against TCU on Jan 2. at home. Houston also faces Kansas State on the road and Iowa State at home this year after not playing them last year.
Houston has two Big Monday games, one of which is the Texas Tech road game. The other is facing Kansas at home on Feb. 1. The Cougars didn't face the Jayhawks at home last year, only at Allen Fieldhouse. It's a quick turnaround for Houston, as it'll play BYU around 48 hours prior on Jan. 30.
The Cougars also head out to Waco, Texas and play Baylor on Jan. 10. The rest of the home schedule features Utah and Oklahoma State. The rest of the road games are Arizona State, UCF, West Virginia and Cincinnati.
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Maanav Gupta is a staff writer for Houston Cougars on SI. He graduated from the University of Houston in the summer of 2025 with his bachelor’s in journalism and a minor in Spanish. Gupta spent three years at the student newspaper, The Daily Cougar, and also covered the 2025 Final Four and National Championship as Houston beat writer for College Basketball Review. He also has his own YouTube channel, Maanav’s Sports Talk, where he has interviewed professional athletes and broadcasters like Jim Nantz, Jose Altuve, J.J. Watt, Rich Eisen, and Alperen Sengun. Gupta was also a contributor to the Houston athletic program as a student. You can find Gupta on X, Instagram and TikTok @MGSportsTalk.