The 2019–20 Houston Cougars men's basketball team represented the University of Houston during the 2019–20 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Cougars were led by sixth-year head coach Kelvin Sampson as members of the American Athletic Conference. This was the second season that the team played its home games at the Fertitta Center. The AP poll released on January 13th had the Cougars ranked outside the top 25, and to date, it is the most recent poll in which the Cougars were unranked. They have since begun a streak of 102 weeks ranked in the AP Top 25, the 17th longest streak in division 1 men’s college basketball history.
Previous season Houston finished the 2018–19 regular season 29–2, including an AAC-best 16–2 record in conference play. They were the runner-up in the American Athletic Conference tournament, falling 69–57 to Cincinnati in the final. The Cougars earned the #3 seed in the Midwest Region of the NCAA tournament, where they went 2–1, advancing to the Sweet Sixteen before falling 62–58 to Kentucky. Houston's final overall season record of 33–4 set a program record for wins.
Shortly after the conclusion of the 2018–19 season, Kelvin Sampson agreed to a six-season contract to remain Head Coach at Houston.
Offseason
Departures Name Number Pos. Height Weight Year Hometown Reason for departure Landon Goesling 2 G 6'2" 175 Bakersfield, CA Graduated Armoni Brooks 3 G 6'3" 195 Round Rock, TX Play professionally Corey Davis Jr. 5 G 6'1" 190 Lafayette, LA Graduated Neil VanBeck 15 G 6'4" 200 Houston, TX Walk-on; left team Breaon Brady 24 F 6'8" 260 Akron, OH Graduated Galen Robinson Jr. 25 G 6'1" 190 Houston, TX Graduated
Incoming transfers Name Number Pos. Height Weight Year Hometown Previous School Cameron Tyson 5 G 6'2" 200 Sophomore Bothell, WA Transferred from Idaho. Under NCAA transfer rules, Tyson has to sit out the 2019–20 season. Tyson will have three years of remaining eligibility. Quentin Grimes 24 G 6'5" 205 Sophomore The Woodlands, TX Transferred from Kansas. Grimes was granted a waiver for immediate eligibility. Will have three years of remaining eligibility.
Recruiting class of 2020
AAC media poll The AAC media poll was released on October 14, 2019, with the Cougars tied for first place with the Memphis Tigers. However, the Cougars received more 1st place votes in the poll. Media poll T-1 Houston 113 (7) T-1 Memphis 113 (4) 3 Cincinnati 94 (1) 4 Wichita State 88 5 USF 79 6 UConn 75 7 Temple 72 8 SMU 47 9 UCF 40 10 Tulsa 36 11 East Carolina 20 12 Tulane 15
Roster
Schedule and results
!colspan=12 style=| Exhibition
!colspan=12 style=| Non-conference regular season
!colspan=12 style=| AAC regular season
!colspan=12 style=| AAC Tournament
1.Cancelled due to the Coronavirus Pandemic
Rankings
*Coaches did not release a Week 2 poll
Awards and honors
American Athletic Conference honors
All-AAC Second Team Nate Hinton Caleb Mills
All Freshman Team Caleb Mills
Player of the Week Week 5: Quentin Grimes Week 8: Fabian White Jr.
Rookie of the Week Week 6: Caleb Mills Week 12: Caleb Mills Week 17: Marcus Sasser
Source
References