HOUSTON – Houston clinched the Big 12 men’s basketball regular season championship Saturday, holding a 17-1 record with two games remaining, after a 73-64 win over Cincinnati. The Cougars boast an eight-game winning streak and have won a record 13 consecutive Big 12 road games, dating back to last season.
The Cougars are just the fourth Conference program to win back-to-back regular season titles, joining Baylor, Iowa State and Kansas. Houston is the first team in a century to join an existing major conference and win the regular season in its first two years of membership, joining 1921-22 and 1922-23 Idaho in the Pacific Coast Conference (now Pac-12). Over two seasons, UH is 32-3 in Conference play.
LJ Cryer is the 24th player to be a part of four Big 12 regular season championship teams, having previously helped Baylor to the top of the standings in 2020-21 and 2021-22 before earning trophies the past two seasons in Houston. It is the third Big 12 title for head coach Kelvin Sampson, who previously won a share of the 2004-05 title at Oklahoma.
UH is guaranteed the No. 1 seed in the Phillips 66 Big 12 Men’s Basketball Championship, held at the T-Mobile Center in Kansas City. Having secured a double-bye, the Coogs debut on the third day of the event, March 13, at 2 p.m. CT. for a quarterfinal matchup.