Houston Cougars Climb Back Up in First AP Poll of 2026
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With the Week 9 release of the AP Poll Top 25 on Monday, the Houston Cougars, now at 13-1 overall and 1-0 in Big 12 play after a come-from-behind 67-60 win at Cincinnati Saturday, moved back up one spot to No. 7 in the first calendar poll of 2026.
Although back in that identical spot for the first time since Week 6, the Cougars still have yet to receive a first-place vote in the poll since the Week 4 release on Nov. 24.
It's safe to say, however, that when it came to opening Big 12 play in one of the toughest sites at Cincinnati's Fifth Third Arena, paired with the explosive neutral site win over Arkansas back on Dec. 20, that Houston was potentially due for upward movement of any kind.
The poll remains the least of worries to coach Kelvin Sampson, however, as long as Houston continues to take care of its business across multiple quads in the NET rankings to climb back into contention for a No. 1 seed.
As the Cougars are 2-1 in Quad 1 opportunities, they'll immediately two straight games in that slot in hosting No. 14 Texas Tech on Tuesday, Jan. 6 at Fertitta Center, then travelling to Waco to face Baylor at Foster Pavilion Saturday, Jan. 10. Nonetheless, the road through league play has only just begun for Houston considering the tests of facing the league's top leaders on the boards, while also matched up with its stacked freshman talent.
How the AP Top 10 fared in league play's full swing
Although Houston has compiled a seven-game winning streak with neutral-site and road wins that ideally garnered an upward trend in the poll, one shake-up in particular prompted the Cougars' slight climb.
The team that had kept Houston's stance deadlocked at No. 8 in the poll since Week 7, Michigan State, sat at 12-1 overall and 2-0 in Big Ten play despite a marquee home loss to Duke on Dec. 6, heading into their matchup with Nebraska at Pinnacle Bank Arena Saturday.
However, the Cornhuskers captured a wire-to-wire 58-56 win over the Spartans to hand them their first Big Ten loss of 2025-26. While the win helped Nebraska remain an undefeated surprise in college basketball and enter the top 10 of the poll, the loss dropped Michigan State three spots to No. 12.
Though the top six in the poll remained unaffected in their places, the back-half shakeup proved pivotal for Houston to move back to the familiar spot.
But as conference play continues to unfold, it's only an opportunity for Houston to climb back within the top five, considering that the top teams in the nation face their toughest battles at that point of the season after playing well in November, while it typically remains the opposite case for the Cougars.
Michael Carrara is a staff writer for Houston Cougars on SI. He attends the University of Houston, where he is a journalism major and a marketing minor. He is also a sports writer and reporter for the Daily Cougar, having covered baseball as an NCBWA member. You can find Michael on all major social media channels, including X on @michaelcoalec.