The 2020–21 Houston Cougars men's basketball team represented the University of Houston during the 2020–21 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Cougars were led by seventh-year head coach Kelvin Sampson as members of the American Athletic Conference. It was the third season that the team played its home games at the Fertitta Center. They won their first ever AAC tournament to clinch an auto-bid to the NCAA tournament, where they were selected as a #2 seed in the Midwest Region. The team advanced to the Final Four for the first time since 1984. They eventually lost to Baylor in the Final Four who went on to become the national champions that season.

Previous season Houston finished the 2019–20 regular season 23–8, 13–5 in AAC play, finishing tied for first place and winning a share of the regular season title. They entered as the No. 2 seed in the AAC tournament, which was ultimately cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Offseason

Departures Name Number Pos. Height Weight Year Hometown Reason for departure Chris Harris Jr. 1 C 6'10" 255 Houston, TX Graduated Nate Hinton 11 G 6'5" 210 Gastonia, NC Play professionally Cedrick Alley Jr. 23 F 6'6" 225 Houston, TX Transferred to UTSA

Incoming transfers Name Pos. Height Weight Year Hometown Notes Reggie Chaney F 225 Tulsa, OK Transferred from Arkansas. Chaney was granted a waiver for immediate eligibility. Initially had two years of remaining eligibility, but automatically received a third year after the NCAA ruled that the 2020–21 season would not be counted against the eligibility of any basketball player.

2020 recruiting class

Houston also added preferred walk-on Ryan Elvin, a 6'0" point guard from Cedar Ridge High School in Round Rock, Texas.

2021 Recruiting class

Preseason

AAC preseason media poll

On October 28, The American released the preseason Poll and other preseason awards

Coaches Poll 1 Houston 99 (9) 2 Memphis 90 (2) 3 SMU 80 4 Cincinnati 77 5 South Florida 61 6 Tulsa 50 7 Wichita State 44 8 UCF 37 9 East Carolina 34 10 Temple 18 11 Tulane 15

Preseason Awards AAC Preseason Player of the Year - Caleb Mills All-AAC First Team - Caleb Mills

Roster

May 27, 2020 – Fabian White Jr. suffered a torn ACL, leading him to sit out before returning for the February 18th game. January 5, 2021 – Caleb Mills entered the transfer portal. Mills would eventually transfer to Florida State.

Schedule and results

COVID-19 impact

Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the Cougars' schedule was subject to change, including the cancellation or postponement of individual games, the cancellation of the entire season, or games played either with minimal fans or without fans in attendance and just essential personnel.

The Cougars began a home-and-home series with LSU and Alabama beginning in the 2020–2021. Both were eventually postponed due to the pandemic. Houston added a game vs. Our Lady of the Lake on February 6. The game @ Cincinnati originally scheduled for February 21 was moved to Houston. Houston added a game vs. Western Kentucky on February 25. The game @ Memphis originally scheduled for March 7 was moved to Houston, after COVID-related issues with Memphis forced the first scheduled matchup between the teams scheduled for February 14 to be postponed.

Schedule

!colspan=12 style=| Regular season

!colspan=12 style=| AAC Tournament

!colspan=9 style=| NCAA tournament

Rankings

*AP does not release post-NCAA Tournament rankings^Coaches did not release a Week 1 poll

Awards and honors

All-American Quentin Grimes – AP (3rd), USBWA (3rd), NABC (3rd), SN (3rd)

John McLendon Award Kelvin Sampson

American Athletic Conference honors

All-AAC Awards Player of the Year: Quentin Grimes Defensive Player of the Year: DeJon Jarreau Most Improved Player: Justin Gorham

All-AAC First Team Quentin Grimes

All-AAC Second Team DeJon Jarreau Justin Gorham Marcus Sasser

Source

References