Where Houston Cougars Rank Among Big 12 Teams Before Conference Play

The Houston Cougars are off to another fun season, jumping out to a 10-1 start with their only loss coming to the Tennessee Volunteers.

Coach Kelvin Sampson has his troops rallying around each non-conference game, keeping the team fired up and prepared for what’s to come in conference play.

As the No. 7 team in the country, there is plenty of room for improvement, but errors as well, so every game on the schedule from here on out is pivotal to claim one of four No. 1 seeds in the NCAA Tournament. There are only two non-conference games left on the schedule against Arkansas and Middle Tennessee State University.

If the Cougars can find a way to win both games, they have a chance to roll through the conference schedule with ease, but they still have to beat the big-brand schools that are having tremendous years, while others are still working on reaching their full potential.

Big 12 Standings

Mar 8, 2023; Kansas City, MO, USA; Center court logo prior to the game between the Texas Tech Red Raiders and the West Virginia Mountaineers at T-Mobile Center. Mandatory Credit: William Purnell-Imagn Images | William Purnell-Imagn Images

At the very top of the standings is one of the more up-and-coming programs, Iowa State, which holds a 10-0 record and is 5-0 at home and 4-0 on neutral courts. Behind Iowa State, the only other undefeated school is Arizona with a 9-0 record.

The Cougars and four other teams are right behind with only one other loss on the season. BYU, Colorado, Oklahoma State, and UCF are in that group of programs working to add more wins to improve their resumes. BYU, Colorado, and Oklahoma State are at 9-1 overall, while UCF is 8-1.

In the bottom half of the conference, Arizona State and Baylor have two losses but plenty of opportunities to build on them. For Arizona State, it is at 9-2 while Baylor is 7-2. Two other programs over the last decade that have had plenty of success and have had only three losses are Kansas and Texas Tech. In coach Bill Self’s program, they are sitting at 8-3, while coach Grant McCasland is at 7-3.

West Virginia has reached eight wins on the season but has dropped four games. Right behind coach Ross Hodge’s program is TCU, which isn’t off to the start it hoped to be with a 6-3 record. Kansas State and Utah are both 7-4, and last is Cincinnati with six wins and four losses.

Conference play begins on Saturday, January 3. For Houston, its first Big 12 opponent is Cincinnati on the road at 1 p.m. on FOX.