The University of Houston men’s basketball team will face a
tough beginning and a very challenging Conference USA schedule
in the 2005-06 season.
"It is an extremely challenging schedule with us playing two
NCAA Tournament teams in the first four games and two of the
projected Conference USA favorites, Memphis and UAB, on the
road," Houston head coach Tom Penders said. "In addition new
Conference USA teams UTEP, Rice and UCF played in postseason
tournaments last year."
After
opening the regular season against Florida Tech on Nov. 22 and
Virginia Commonwealth on Nov. 26, Houston travels to LSU on Nov.
29 for its first game against a 2005 NCAA Tournament team and
plays host to 2005 NCAA Elite Eight team Arizona on Dec. 3.
"VCU
is a favorite to win their league, and playing the likes of
Arizona and LSU is not a bunch of cupcakes at the beginning of
the season," Penders said.
The game against VCU will be part of a football-basketball
doubleheader and follows Houston’s final regular-season football
game against crosstown rival Rice.
Houston plays at South Alabama in the second game of the Coors
Classic in Mobile, Ala., and travel to UNLV on Dec. 20.
"South
Alabama should be very good and challenge to win their
conference with most of their team returning from last year,"
Penders said. "UNLV will be a great series for us that could go
beyond the next two years with Lon Krueger building a powerhouse
there."
The Cougars play non-conference home games against Sam Houston
State on Dec. 10, North Texas on Dec. 23 and Texas A&M-Corpus
Christi on Jan. 7 before opening their Conference USA schedule
at Rice on Jan. 11. UH also travels to Texas A&M-Corpus Christi
on Feb. 7.
Houston’s other non-conference games includes playing host to
Rhode Island on Dec. 27, McNeese State on Dec. 31 and traveling
to Centenary on Jan. 3.
After playing at Rice, Houston will play its first two C-USA
home games against UCF, a team that played in the 2005 NCAA
Tournament, on Jan. 14 and Southern Miss on Jan. 18. The Cougars
play at UCF on Feb. 15 and face another 2005 NCAA Tournament
team on the road at UAB on Jan. 21. Houston also plays at Tulane
on Jan. 25 before closing out the month of Jan. playing host to
Marshall on Jan. 28.
The Cougars open the month of Feb. playing host to another 2005
NCAA Tournament team, UTEP. The Cougars travel to UTEP on Feb.
25. Houston also travels to East Carolina on Feb. 4, while
playing C-USA home games against SMU on Feb. 11, Tulsa on Feb.
18 and Rice on March 1.
The Cougars close out the regular season at Memphis on March 4
before playing in the Conference USA Tournament on March 8-11 in
Memphis.
"This will be a very challenging schedule for our team,"
Penders said. "We have aggressively gone out and scheduled
non-conference games against teams that will help us get into
the NCAA Tournament. With the players we have returning combined
with the players we have coming in, I am looking forward to the
start of the season."
2005-06 UNIVERSITY OF HOUSTON MEN'S BASKETBALL SCHEDULE
Date Day Opponent Time
Nov. 22 Tues. Florida Tech TBA
Nov. 26 Sat. VCU 8:00
Nov. 29 Tues. at LSU (Fox Sports Net) 8:00
Dec. 3 Sat. Arizona TBA
Dec. 10 Sat. Sam Houston State TBA
Dec. 17 Sat. at Coors Classic at Mobile, Ala.
Florida State vs. Bowling Green
TBA
Houston vs. South Alabama TBA
Dec. 20 Tues. at UNLV TBA
Dec. 23 Fri. North Texas TBA
Dec. 27 Tues. Rhode Island TBA
Dec. 31 Sat. McNeese State TBA
Jan. 3 Tues. at Centenary TBA
Jan. 7 Sat. Texas A&M-Corpus Christi TBA
Jan. 11 Wed. *at Rice TBA
Jan. 14 Sat. *UCF TBA
Jan. 18 Wed. *Southern Miss TBA
Jan. 21 Sat. *at UAB TBA
Jan. 25 Wed. *at Tulane TBA
Jan. 28 Sat. *Marshall TBA
Feb. 1 Wed. *UTEP TBA
Feb. 4 Sat. *at East Carolina TBA
Feb. 7 Tues. at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi TBA
Feb. 11 Sat. *SMU TBA
Feb. 15 Wed. *at UCF TBA
Feb. 18 Sat. *Tulsa TBA
Feb. 25 Sat. *at UTEP TBA
Mar. 1 Wed. *Rice TBA
Mar. 4 Sat. *at Memphis TBA
Mar. 8-11 Wed.-Sat. C-USA Tournament TBA
Home Games in Bold; *-Conference USA Opponent; All-times are
Central
