# 2015–16 Houston Cougars men's basketball team

The 2015–16 Houston Cougars men's basketball team represented the University of Houston during the 2015–16 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Cougars were led by second year head coach Kelvin Sampson and were members of the American Athletic Conference. The Cougars played their home games at Hofheinz Pavilion. They finished the season with a record of 22–11, 12–6 in AAC play to finish in a tie for third place in conference. They lost in the quarterfinals of the AAC tournament to Tulane. They received a bid to the National Invitation Tournament where they lost to Georgia Tech in the first round.

## Previous season

The Cougars finished the 2014–15 season with a record of 13–19, 4–14 in AAC play to finish in tenth place in conference. They advanced to the quarterfinals of the AAC tournament where they lost to Tulsa.

## Departures

| Name | Number | Pos. | Height | Weight | Year | Hometown | Notes |
| Mikhail McLean | 1 | F | 6'6" | 210 | Senior | Nassau, Bahamas | Graduated |
| Cavon Baker | 3 | G | 6'1" | 175 | Junior | Queens, NY | Transferred to St. Peter's |
| J. C. Washington | 11 | F | 6'6" | 225 | Freshman | Houston, TX | Transferred to Trinity Valley Community College |
| Adam Drexler | 20 | F | 6'5" | 205 | Junior | Houston, TX | Walk-on; didn't return |
| Jherrod Stiggers | 21 | G | 6'4" | 215 | Junior | Terrell, TX | Play professionally overseas |

### Incoming Transfers

| Name | Number | Pos. | Height | Weight | Year | Hometown | Previous School |
| Xavier Dupree | 1 | F | 6'9" | 210 | Junior | Houston, TX | Junior college transferred from Paris Junior College |
| Rob Gray | 2 | G | 6'2" | 190 | Sophomore | Forest City, NC | Junior college transferred from Howard College |
| Damyean Dotson | 21 | G | 6'6" | | Junior | Houston, TX | Junior college transferred from Houston Community College |
| Kyle Meyer | 33 | C | 6'10" | 222 | Junior | Alpharetta, GA | Junior college transferred from Eastern Florida State College |

## Class of 2015 signees

College recruiting information :
| Name | Hometown | High school / college | Height | Weight | Commit date |
| Chris Harris C | Houston, TX | Madison High School | 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) | 200 lb (91 kg) | Mar 13, 2015 |
| Star ratings: Scout: N/A Rivals: 247Sports: N/A ESPN grade: 80 ||||||
| Galen Robinson PG | Houston, TX | Westbury Christian School | 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) | N/A | Nov 20, 2014 |
| Star ratings: Scout: Rivals: 247Sports: N/A ESPN grade: NR ||||||
| Overall recruiting rankings: Scout: NR Rivals: NR ESPN: NR ||||||
| Note: In many cases, Scout, Rivals, 247Sports, and ESPN may conflict in their listings of height and weight. In these cases, the average was taken. ESPN grades are on a 100-point scale. Sources: "Houston Basketball Commitment List". Rivals.com. Retrieved August 13, 2015. "2015 Houston Basketball Commitment List". Scout.com. Retrieved August 13, 2015. "ESPN". ESPN.com. Retrieved August 13, 2015. "Scout.com Team Recruiting Rankings". Scout.com. Retrieved August 13, 2015. "2015 Team Ranking". Rivals.com. Retrieved August 13, 2015. ||||||

## Schedule and results

| Date time, TV | Rank$^#$ | Opponent$^#$ | Result | Record | Site (attendance) city, state |
| Exhibition ||||||
| 11/13/2015* 7:00 pm | | Montana Tech | W 96–65 | | Hofheinz Pavilion Houston, TX |
| Non-conference regular season ||||||
| 11/18/2015* 7:00 pm, ESPN3 | | Prairie View A&M | W 110–59 | 1–0 | Hofheinz Pavilion (1,223) Houston, TX |
| 11/21/2015* 7:00 pm, ESPN3 | | Florida A&M | W 97–52 | 2–0 | Hofheinz Pavilion (3,163) Houston, TX |
| 11/28/2015* 7:00 pm, ESPN3 | | Louisiana–Monroe | W 76–64 | 3–0 | Hofheinz Pavilion (2,332) Houston, TX |
| 11/30/2015* 7:00 pm, ESPN3 | | Texas–Rio Grande Valley | W 78–65 | 4–0 | Hofheinz Pavilion (1,974) Houston, TX |
| 12/02/2015* 7:00 pm, ESPN3 | | Murray State | W 93–78 | 5–0 | Hofheinz Pavilion (2,089) Houston, TX |
| 12/08/2015* 6:00 pm | | at Rhode Island | L 57–67 | 5–1 | Ryan Center (3,633) Kingston, RI |
| 12/13/2015* 7:00 pm, ESPN2 | | LSU | W 105–98 $^{OT}$ | 6–1 | Hofheinz Pavilion (7,918) Houston, TX |
| 12/16/2015* 7:00 pm, ESPN3 | | North Carolina Central Global Basketball Classic | W 73–65 | 7–1 | Hofheinz Pavilion (3,342) Houston, TX |
| 12/19/2015* 7:00 pm, ESPN3 | | Eastern Illinois Global Basketball Classic | W 81–65 | 8–1 | Hofheinz Pavilion (3,428) Houston, TX |
| 12/21/2015* 7:00 pm | | vs. Grand Canyon Global Basketball Classic semifinals | L 69–78 | 8–2 | Cox Pavilion Paradise, NV |
| 12/22/2015* 7:00 pm | | at Wyoming Global Basketball Classic 3rd place game | W 94–89 $^{OT}$ | 9–2 | Cox Pavilion Paradise, NV |
| 12/28/2015* 1:00 pm, ESPN3 | | Nicholls State | W 76–49 | 10–2 | Hofheinz Pavilion (3,403) Houston, TX |
| AAC regular season ||||||
| 12/30/2015 1:00 pm, ESPNU | | at South Florida | W 73–67 | 11–2 (1–0) | USF Sun Dome (2,754) Tampa, FL |
| 01/02/2016 11:00 am, ESPNews | | at Temple | W 77–50 | 12–2 (2–0) | Liacouras Center (5,374) Philadelphia, PA |
| 01/05/2016 8:00 pm, ESPNU | | Tulane | W 63–45 | 13–2 (3–0) | Hofheinz Pavilion (3,235) Houston, TX |
| 01/13/2016 6:00 pm, ESPNU | | at Cincinnati | L 59–70 | 13–3 (3–1) | Fifth Third Arena (9,345) Cincinnati, OH |
| 01/17/2016 1:00 pm, CBSSN | | UConn | L 57–69 | 13–4 (3–2) | Hofheinz Pavilion (4,672) Houston, TX |
| 01/19/2016 8:00 pm, ESPNU | | at No. 8 SMU | L 73–77 | 13–5 (3–3) | Moody Coliseum (7,059) Dallas, TX |
| 01/23/2016 3:00 pm, CBSSN | | South Florida | L 62–71 | 13–6 (3–4) | Hofheinz Pavilion (3,724) Houston, TX |
| 01/27/2016 7:00 pm, ESPNews | | Tulsa | W 81–66 | 14–6 (4–4) | Hofheinz Pavilion (3,185) Houston, TX |
| 01/30/2016 11:00 am, ESPNews | | at East Carolina | W 97–93 $^{2OT}$ | 15–6 (5–4) | Williams Arena (5,212) Greenville, NC |
| 02/01/2016 7:00 pm, CBSSN | | No. 12 SMU | W 71–68 | 16–6 (6–4) | Hofheinz Pavilion (6,195) Houston, TX |
| 02/07/2016 2:00 pm, ESPNU | | at Tulsa | L 63–77 | 16–7 (6–5) | Reynolds Center (4,321) Tulsa, OK |
| 02/10/2016 6:00 pm, ESPNU | | Memphis | W 98–90 | 17–7 (7–5) | Hofheinz Pavilion (4,060) Houston, TX |
| 02/13/2016 2:00 pm, ESPNews | | UCF | W 82–58 | 18–7 (8–5) | Hofheinz Pavilion (4,126) Houston, TX |
| 02/17/2016 8:30 pm, ESPNews | | at Tulane | W 82–69 | 19–7 (9–5) | Devlin Fieldhouse (1,593) New Orleans, LA |
| 02/21/2016 6:00 pm, ESPNews | | Temple | L 66–69 | 19–8 (9–6) | Hofheinz Pavilion (4,466) Houston, TX |
| 02/24/2016 6:00 pm, ESPNU | | at UCF | W 88–61 | 20–8 (10–6) | CFE Arena (4,664) Orlando, FL |
| 02/28/2016 12:00 pm, CBSSN | | at UConn | W 75–68 | 21–8 (11–6) | Gampel Pavilion (9,667) Storrs, CT |
| 03/03/2016 8:00 pm, CBSSN | | Cincinnati | W 69–56 | 22–8 (12–6) | Hofheinz Pavilion (4,171) Houston, TX |
| American Athletic Conference tournament ||||||
| 03/11/2016 6:00 pm, ESPNU | (2) | vs. (10) Tulane Quarterfinals | L 69–72 | 22–9 | Amway Center Orlando, FL |
| NIT ||||||
| 03/16/2016* 7:00 pm, ESPN2 | (5) | at (4) Georgia Tech First round | L 62–81 | 22–10 | Hank McCamish Pavilion Atlanta, GA |
| *Non-conference game. $^#$Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Central Time. ||||||

## Rankings

Ranking movements Legend: RV = Received votes :
| | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week |
| Poll | Pre | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | Final |
| AP | | | | | | RV | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Not released |
| Coaches' | | | | | | | | | RV | RV | | | | | | | | | | | |