# 2023–24 Houston Cougars women's basketball team

The 2023–24 Houston Cougars women's basketball team represented the University of Houston during the 2023–24 NCAA Division I women's basketball season. The Cougars, were led by tenth-year head coach Ronald Hughey and played their home games at the Fertitta Center as members of the Big 12 Conference.

## Previous season

The Cougars finished the 2022–23 season 15–16, 10–5 in AAC play to finish in fourth place. As a No. 4 seed in the AAC women's tournament advanced in the quarterfinals they defeated No. 5 seed SMU and No. 8 Wichita State in the semifinals before losing in the championship game to No. 3 East Carolina.

## Offseason
### Departures

Houston Departures :
| Name | Number | Pos. | Height | Year | Hometown | Reason for Departure |
| Tiara Young | 2 | G | 5'9" | Senior | Shreveport, LA | Graduate transferred to SMU |
| Tae'Lor Purvis | 4 | G | 5'7" | Junior | Houston, TX | Transferred to Xavier |
| Taryn Johnson | 5 | G | 5'8" | Freshman | San Diego, CA | |
| De'Myla Brown | 15 | G | 5'7" | Senior | North Little Rock, AR | Graduate transferred to Missouri |
| Kendall Brown | 21 | G | 5'7" | Sophomore | DeSoto, TX | Transferred to Prairie View A&M |
| Ca'Leyah Burrell | 25 | G | 5'8" | Senior | Waco, TX | Graduated |
| Tatyana Hill | 30 | F | 6'2" | GS Senior | Houston, TX | Graduated |

### Incoming

Houston Incoming Transfers :
| Name | Num | Pos. | Height | Year | Hometown | Previous School |
| Gigi Cooke | 3 | G | 5'9" | Sophomore | Clinton, MD | Maryland |
| N'Yah Boyd | 5 | G | 5'6" | Senior | Mesquite, TX | UTEP |
| Maliyah Johnson | 21 | F | 6'0" | Junior | Columbus, OH | Pittsburgh |
| Djessira Diawara | 30 | F | 6'3" | Senior | Bamako, Mali | Clarendon College |
| Shalexxus Aaron | 35 | G | 6'1" | Senior | Apple Valley, CA | Oregon State |
| Peyton McFarland | 42 | F | 6'4" | Junior | Boise, ID | Utah |

#### Recruiting

There were no recruiting classing class of 2023.

## Schedule

| Date time, TV | Rank$^#$ | Opponent$^#$ | Result | Record | Site (attendance) city, state |
| Non-conference regular season ||||||
| November 10, 2023* 7:00 p.m., BIG12/ESPN+ | | Air Force | W 99–61 | 1–0 | Fertitta Center (935) Houston, TX |
| November 14, 2023* 7:00 p.m., BIG12/ESPN+ | | Sam Houston | W 106–65 | 2–0 | Fertitta Center (964) Houston, TX |
| November 19, 2023* 2:00 p.m., BIG12/ESPN+ | | Grambling State | W 106–74 | 3–0 | Fertitta Center (897) Houston, TX |
| November 26, 2023* 2:00 p.m., BIG12/ESPN+ | | New Orleans | W 81–54 | 4–0 | Fertitta Center (1,139) Houston, TX |
| November 29, 2023* 7:00 p.m., BIG12/ESPN+ | | Middle Tennessee | L 45–70 | 4–1 | Fertitta Center (698) Houston, TX |
| December 3, 2023* 2:00 p.m., BIG12/ESPN+ | | Florida A&M | W 79–59 | 5–1 | Fertitta Center (1,160) Houston, TX |
| December 8, 2023* 7:00 p.m., ESPN+ | | at Texas A&M–Commerce | W 86–53 | 6–1 | The Field House (1,189) Commerce, TX |
| December 12, 2023* 11:00 a.m., BIG12/ESPN+ | | Texas Southern | W 89–42 | 7–1 | Fertitta Center (3,658) Houston, TX |
| December 14, 2023* 6:00 p.m., ESPN+ | | at UTSA | W 66–64 | 8–1 | Convocation Center (869) San Antonio,TX |
| December 17, 2023* 4:00 p.m., P12N | | at Washington State | L 48–95 | 8–2 | Beasley Coliseum (956) Pullman, WA |
| December 20, 2023* 1:00 p.m., BIG12/ESPN+ | | Rice rivalry | W 71–63 $^{OT}$ | 9–2 | Fertitta Center (1,033) Houston, TX |
| Big 12 Conference regular season ||||||
| December 30, 2023 1:00 p.m., BIG12/ESPN+ | | Texas Tech | L 71–79 | 9–3 (0–1) | Fertitta Center (1,975) Houston, TX |
| January 3, 2024 6:30 p.m., BIG12/ESPN+ | | at No. 11 Kansas State | L 38–72 | 9–4 (0–2) | Bramlage Coliseum (3,397) Manhattan, KS |
| January 6, 2024 2:00 p.m., BIG12/ESPN+ | | at No. 6 Baylor | L 58–87 | 9–5 (0–3) | Foster Pavilion (4,530) Waco, TX |
| January 10, 2024 7:00 p.m., BIG12/ESPN+ | | BYU | W 79–69 | 10–5 (1–3) | Fertitta Center (805) Houston, TX |
| January 13, 2024 2:00 p.m., BIG12/ESPN+ | | TCU | W 77–66 | 11–5 (2–3) | Fertitta Center (1,635) Houston, TX |
| January 17, 2024 6:00 p.m., BIG12/ESPN+ | | at West Virginia | L 39–80 | 11–6 (2–4) | WVU Coliseum (2,251) Morgantown, WV |
| January 20, 2024 6:00 p.m., BIG12/ESPN+ | | Oklahoma | L 65–71 | 11–7 (2–5) | Fertitta Center (1,780) Houston, TX |
| January 24, 2024 6:00 p.m., BIG12/ESPN+ | | at Texas Tech | L 48–66 | 11–8 (2–6) | United Supermarkets Arena (4,775) Lubbock, TX |
| January 27, 2024 1:00 p.m., BIG12/ESPN+ | | at UCF | L 87–92 $^{OT}$ | 11–9 (2–7) | Addition Financial Arena (1,092) Orlando, FL |
| January 30, 2024 7:00 p.m., BIG12/ESPN+ | | Cincinnati | W 54–46 | 12–9 (3–7) | Fertitta Center (974) Houston, TX |
| February 4, 2024 2:00 p.m., BIG12/ESPN+ | | No. 13 Baylor | L 60–83 | 12–10 (3–8) | Fertitta Center (2,069) Houston, TX |
| February 8, 2024 6:30 p.m., BIG12/ESPN+ | | at Kansas | L 52–69 | 12–11 (3–9) | Allen Fieldhouse (3,090) Lawrence, KS |
| February 14, 2024 7:00 p.m., BIG12/ESPN+ | | No. 5 Texas | L 66–82 | 12–12 (3–10) | Fertitta Center (1,610) Houston, TX |
| February 17, 2024 4:00 p.m., BIG12/ESPN+ | | at Oklahoma State | W 65–57 | 13–12 (4–10) | Gallagher-Iba Arena (2,112) Stillwater, OK |
| February 21, 2024 7:00 p.m., BIG12/ESPN+ | | Iowa State | L 64–76 | 13–13 (4–11) | Fertitta Center (995) Houston, TX |
| February 24, 2024 6:00 p.m., BIG12/ESPN+ | | at TCU | L 49–59 | 13–14 (4–12) | Schollmaier Arena (2,133) Fort Worth, TX |
| February 28, 2024 8:00 p.m., BIG12/ESPN+ | | at BYU | L 54–64 | 13–15 (4–13) | Marriott Center (1,760) Provo, UT |
| March 2, 2024 7:00 p.m., BIG12/ESPN+ | | UCF | W 68–67 | 14–15 (5–13) | Fertitta Center (1,141) Houston, TX |
| Big 12 Conference Tournament ||||||
| March 7, 2024 5:30 p.m., ESPN+ | (13) | vs. (12) Texas Tech First Round | L 60–74 | 14–16 | T-Mobile Center Kansas City, MO |
| *Non-conference game. $^#$Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Central Time. ||||||