How to Watch Illinois vs Houston in the NCAA Tournament

Less than two weeks remain in the 2025-26 college basketball season, and if by now Illinois (26-8) hasn't learned from its past mistakes and built the rhino skin and lion's heart it needs to survive the wilds of the NCAA Tournament's final days, it never will.

That should actually come as uplifting news if you're an Illini fan. As irrefutably stacked as No. 3 seed Illinois is in size, shooting and on-ball skill, it's those survival skills that will carry it past No. 2 seed Houston in Thursday's Sweet 16 matchup at the Toyota Center in Houston (9:05 p.m. CT, TBS/TruTV).

"When there's 50-50 plays against Houston, they're not 50-50, they're 90-10 in favor of the Cougars."@JonRothstein on the culture of toughness Kelvin Sampson has built at @UHCougarMBK pic.twitter.com/i3o7o2PSAU
— CBS Sports College Basketball 🏀 (@CBSSportsCBB) April 4, 2025

Or not. And that's the point: The Illini have looked excellent in blowing through Penn and VCU in the first two rounds, and they are capable of upending the Cougars – in Houston or location. But are they ready for 40 minutes of gnarly, teeth-rattling hoops against one of the fiercest defenses in the game? Can they hit the big shots when necessary? Will they maintain their composure and stay steady from tip to final buzzer? If it doesn't happen Thursday, it was never meant to be anyhow.

Here’s more information about Thursday's Illinois-Houston Sweet 16 matchup:

How to watch Illinois Fighting Illini vs. Houston Cougars

Only paying attention to us.

🏆 NCAA Tournament Sweet 16
🆚 [2] Houston
⏰ 9:05 p.m. CT
📍 Houston, TX
📺 TBS/TruTV pic.twitter.com/togpAh2Ig9
— Illinois Men's Basketball (@IlliniMBB) March 26, 2026

What's the event?

No. 3 seed Illinois (26-8) will face No. 2 seed Houston (30-6) in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament (South Region).

Where and when are they playing?

The Toyota Center in Houston, on Thursday at 9:05 p.m. CT.

How to watch

Illinois vs. Houston will be broadcast on TBS and TruTV. Kevin Harlan, Robbie Hummel, Stan Van Gundy and sideline reporter Lauren Shehadi will be on the call.

Illinois-Houston will also live stream on NCAA March Madness Live. You can download the NCAA March Madness app here.

How to listen

Local audio of the game can be heard on radio affiliates of the Busey Bank Illini Sports Network (Champaign: WDWS 93.9 FM or 1400 AM; Chicago: WLS 890 AM) and streamed at Fighting Illini Productions and the Varsity Network App.

A national broadcast can be followed on Westwood One (Spero Dedes and Fran Fraschilla are on the call) or Sirius XM 209 or 202. You can download the SXM app here.

What happened when Illinois last played Houston?

Illini fans won't want to be reminded, but when last Illinois met Houston, it was in the Round of 32 in the 2022 NCAA Tournament, when Kofi Cockburn managed 18 points and nine rebounds but got almost no help as the Cougars' D put on the clamps and the rest of the Illini shot 28.2 percent from the floor in a 68-53 loss.

What has changed since then?

this sequence from Zvonimir Ivisic 😳 pic.twitter.com/uKKgfkjP0S
— B/R Hoops (@brhoops) March 22, 2026

The names on the back of the jerseys have changed for Houston, but the profile for this Kelvin Sampson club is nearly identical to that 2022 version. The Cougars have decent size, super athleticism and a bully's disposition. Illinois is built completely differently, going from an orbit-the-post approach with Cockburn at the center to a dynamic, matchup-hunting, downhill-driving and three-point-firing outfit. And if the Illini defense we witnessed in the first two tourney games shows up Thursday, the Cougars had better be ready to get bullied back.