The first goal was achieved. No. 4 Houston basketball (25-4, 17-1) won its second straight Big 12 conference regular season championship after a 73-64 victory over the Cincinnati Bearcats and cut the nets on Saturday evening in Fertitta Center.
This is the seventh consecutive season where UH has won a conference title (regular season or tournament), five in the American Athletic and now two in the Big 12 so far.
“There are 16 teams in this league, a lot of great programs. We lose good players every year, but the culture and the way we do things doesn’t change a whole lot,” head coach Kelvin Sampson said.
The Cougars have now tied 2019-2020 Kansas for the best record in Big 12 single-season history of 17-1. This year’s edition of Houston basketball also became the winningest team in conference games in school single-season history over the 2022-23 team. Graduate guard LJ Cryer also crossed the 1,000-point mark in his Houston career, joining graduate forward J’Wan Roberts.
“Now that we got that out of the way, we’ve got a lot more to do, so it’s time to move on to the next goal,” Cryer said.
Takeaway #1: Regular season conference dominance
This latest achievement for Houston basketball is nothing new. Over the last seven seasons, UH has won eight total conference titles. The turnaround of the program was being built when Houston lost to Cincinnati in the 2018 AAC tournament championship game. Now after beating the Bearcats in 2025, Houston is at the top of the Big 12.
“Winning back to back ain’t easy, so for us to go out there and do it 2 years in a row is a very special occasion,” Roberts said. “We’re not done yet, this is just step one.”
The Cougars started their conference dominance back in the 2018-19 season, when the program was in the American Athletic conference. Houston eventually won the 2019, 2020, 2022, and 2023 regular season titles in the AAC along with being tournament champions in 2021 and 2022.
The conference championships picked right up in the Big 12 with a regular season title in the very first season. Currently, Big 12 champ Houston runs the league after losing only one conference game all season, that too in overtime.
“A lot of people were down on this team because they came from the American but just watching the film, a team that plays this hard can go to any conference and win,” Cryer said.
Takeaway #2: Houston overcomes slow start
The Cougars had a slow start offensively as the Bearcats took an early 10-2 lead. After a Kelvin Sampson timeout, Cryer hit a shot which ignited the game flipping 18-2 run that was capped off by a steal and layup by graduate guard Mylik Wilson.
A physical and-one basket from sophomore forward Joseph Tugler brought the Cincinnati lead a one-point deficit halfway through the first half before sophomore guard Terrance Arceneaux took the lead for Houston on his paint attack as the home crowd woke up.
UH continued to slowly grow the lead and junior guard Emanuel Sharp hit the first Houston three of the game with 44 seconds left in the first half and was visibly energized as it was the Cougars largest lead of the game at 15 points. Houston then led at halftime 37-25. While UH was only 17% from three, the team shot 48% overall from the field and added 15 points off nine turnovers forced.
The Bearcats came right out of halftime and cut the lead down to seven after senior guard Day Day Thomas hit two straight shots. The Cougars responded with a tough three from Cryer before Roberts went on the attack.
While Cincinnati was still hanging around, Arceneaux had crucial back-to-back shots in the paint that kept momentum on Houston’s side. UH eventually extended the lead to 19, the largest of the game after a step-back triple from Cryer with 6:56 to go.
Houston had double the amount of bench points (24-12) and added 40 points in the paint that proved to be a big difference in the game. Cryer had a game high 20 points along with 10 from Arceneaux.
Takeaway #3: Cincinnati gave a good fight
The Bearcats took the early lead, and showed it wasn’t going to be a cakewalk for Houston basketball to get their outright Big 12 title.
“I’m pleased with our guys’ fight, guys played hard, they were physical, I thought we defended well but they hit some really tough ones over the top,” head coach Wes Miller said.
While Cincinnati wasn’t able to hold on to the lead, there were multiple efforts that made it close. The Bearcats had one last gasp with a late 7-0 run and brought the Houston lead down to 11 with just over five minutes left, but did not build on it in time. Cincinnati ended up out-rebounding Houston 32-28, and even were +5 on the offensive glass.
The Bearcats made five shots from downtown in the first half, but made just one out of eight in the second half. Thomas being in early foul trouble really hurt Cincinnati as their offense was effective with him in the game. Thomas was the leading scorer for the Bearcats with 19 points and shot 67% from the field.
Up next for Houston basketball (25-4, 17-1): vs. Kansas (19-10, 10-8) – Mar. 3 at 9 p.m. CST
Up next for Cincinnati basketball (17-12, 7-11): vs. Kansas State (14-15, 8-10) – Mar. 5 at 7 p.m. CST
[…] this week’s AP poll. The Cougars have won 21 out of their last 22 games, and are coming off a 73-64 win over Cincinnati on Saturday, which clinched the second straight outright Big 12 regular season title for Houston. […]
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