# 2017–18 Houston Cougars women's basketball team

The 2017–18 Houston Cougars women's basketball team represented the University of Houston during the 2017–18 NCAA Division I women's basketball season. The season marked the fifth for the Cougars as members of the American Athletic Conference. The Cougars, led by fourth year head coach Ronald Hughey, played their home games at Health and Physical Education Arena due to renovations at Hofheinz Pavilion, which will be renamed Fertitta Center and will reopen during the 2018–19 season. They finished the season 20–12, 9–7 in The American play to finish in a tie for fifth place. They lost to Tulsa in the first round of the American Athletic Conference women's tournament. They received an at-large bid to the Women's National Invitation Tournament, where they lost to South Dakota.

## Media

All Cougars games home and away are aired on the Houston Cougars IMG Sports Network, streamed online via the Houston Portal, with Gerald Sanchez and Louis Ray on the call. Before conference season home games streamed on Houston All-Access. Conference home games rotated between ESPN3, AAC Digital, and the Houston Portal. Road games typically streamed on the opponents' websites, though some conference road games also appeared on ESPN3 or AAC Digital.

## Schedule and results

| Date time, TV | Rank$^#$ | Opponent$^#$ | Result | Record | Site (attendance) city, state |
| Non-conference regular season ||||||
| 11/10/2017* 7:00 pm | | at No. 20 Texas A&M Preseason WNIT First Round | L 65–83 | 0–1 | Reed Arena (3,085) College Station, TX |
| 11/17/2017* 5:00 pm | | vs. Milwaukee Preseason WNIT Consolation 2nd Round | W 74–59 | 1–1 | Lakefront Arena New Orleans, LA |
| 11/18/2017* 4:30 pm | | at New Orleans Preseason WNIT Consolation 2nd Round | W 78–66 | 2–1 | Lakefront Arena (382) New Orleans, LA |
| 11/22/2017* 5:00 pm | | at Boston College | L 74–79 | 2–2 | Conte Forum (891) Chestnut Hill, MA |
| 11/24/2017* 2:00 pm | | vs. Liberty UMass Thanksgiving Classic | W 75–68 | 3–2 | Mullins Center (387) Amherst, MA |
| 11/25/2017* 10:00 am | | vs. Northeastern UMass Thanksgiving Classic | W 72–64 | 4–2 | Mullins Center (396) Amherst, MA |
| 11/28/2017* 7:00 pm | | at Texas State | W 72–67 | 5–2 | Strahan Coliseum (1,192) San Marcos, TX |
| 12/01/2017* 7:00 pm | | at Texas–Arlington | W 62–58 | 6–2 | College Park Center (761) Arlington, TX |
| 12/03/2017* 2:00 pm | | Texas Tech | W 79–75 | 7–2 | H&PE Arena Houston, TX |
| 12/10/2017* 2:00 pm | | East Tennessee State | W 88–69 | 8–2 | H&PE Arena (561) Houston, TX |
| 12/16/2017* 5:00 pm | | at Rutgers | L 57–75 | 8–3 | Louis Brown Athletic Center (1,220) Piscataway, NJ |
| 12/18/2017* 11:00 am | | Incarnate Word | W 98–67 | 9–3 | H&PE Arena (260) Houston, TX |
| 12/21/2017* 7:00 pm | | George Mason | W 82–73 | 10–3 | H&PE Arena (467) Houston, TX |
| 12/28/2017* 5:00 pm | | Columbia | W 77–53 | 11–3 | H&PE Arena (522) Houston, TX |
| AAC regular season ||||||
| 12/30/2017 2:00 pm | | at SMU | W 85–75 | 12–3 (1–0) | Moody Coliseum (992) Dallas, TX |
| 01/02/2018 7:00 pm | | Wichita State | W 73–55 | 13–3 (2–0) | HP&E Arena (652) Houston, TX |
| 01/06/2018 2:00 pm | | at Tulane | W 98–92 $^{OT}$ | 14–3 (3–0) | Devlin Fieldhouse (642) New Orleans, LA |
| 01/10/2018 7:00 pm, ESPN3 | | Cincinnati | L 82–88 | 14–4 (3–1) | HP&E Arena (542) Houston, TX |
| 01/13/2018 2:00 pm, SNY/ESPN3 | | No. 1 Connecticut | L 35–95 | 14–5 (3–2) | HP&E Arena (2,150) Houston, TX |
| 01/16/2018 6:00 pm, ESPN3 | | at Temple | W 99–75 | 15–5 (4–2) | McGonigle Hall (1,008) Philadelphia, PA |
| 01/20/2018 4:00 pm | | at East Carolina | L 78–80 $^{OT}$ | 15–6 (4–3) | Williams Arena (1,227) Greenville, NC |
| 01/27/2018 2:00 pm | | SMU | W 60–56 | 16–6 (5–3) | H&PE Arena (746) Houston, TX |
| 01/31/2018 7:00 pm | | Tulane | W 72–48 | 17–6 (6–3) | HP&E Arena (575) Houston, TX |
| 02/03/2018 2:00 pm, ADN | | at Wichita State | W 73–62 | 18–6 (7–3) | Charles Koch Arena (1,907) Wichita, KS |
| 02/07/2018 7:00 pm, ADN | | Memphis | W 66–55 | 19–6 (8–3) | HP&E Arena (577) Houston, TX |
| 02/10/2018 2:00 pm | | at Tulsa | L 77–83 | 19–7 (8–4) | Reynolds Center (470) Tulsa, OK |
| 02/17/2018 2:00 pm | | East Carolina | W 97–81 | 20–7 (9–4) | HP&E Arena (667) Houston, TX |
| 02/21/2018 2:00 pm | | at No. 18 South Florida | L 65–81 | 20–8 (9–5) | USF Sun Dome (2,223) Tampa, FL |
| 02/24/2018 12:00 pm, ADN | | UCF | L 59–64 | 20–9 (9–6) | HP&E Arena (1,099) Houston, TX |
| 02/26/2018 6:00 pm | | at Cincinnati | L 57–61 | 20–10 (9–7) | Saint Ursula Academy Gym (643) Cincinnati, OH |
| AAC Women's Tournament ||||||
| 03/03/2018 7:00 pm, ESPN3 | (5) | vs. (12) Tulsa First Round | L 72–98 | 20–11 | Mohegan Sun Arena (4,599) Uncasville, CT |
| WNIT ||||||
| 03/15/2018* 7:00 pm | | at South Dakota First Round | L 58–65 | 20–12 | Sanford Coyote Sports Center (1,176) Vermillion, SD |
| *Non-conference game. $^#$Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Central Time. ||||||

## Rankings

2017–18 NCAA Division I women's basketball rankings
Legend :
| | Increase in ranking |
| | Decrease in ranking |
| | Not ranked previous week |
| (RV) | Received Votes |