University of Houston Athletics
Cougars Announce 2005-06 Men's Basketball Schedule
9/20/2005 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Sept. 20, 2005
Houston, Texas- - 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. | TBA |
| 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 | |||
