2024–25 Houston Cougars men's basketball team

2024–25 Houston Cougars men's basketball
National Championship Game,
L 63–65 vs. Florida
ConferenceBig 12 Conference
Ranking
CoachesNo. 2
APNo. 2
Record35–5 (19–1 Big 12)
Head coach
Associate head coachQuannas White
Assistant coaches
Home arenaFertitta Center
2024–25 Big 12 men's basketball standings
Conf. Overall
Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT
No. 2 Houston 19 1   .950 35 5   .875
No. 8 Texas Tech 15 5   .750 28 9   .757
No. 15 Arizona 14 6   .700 24 13   .649
No. 13 BYU 14 6   .700 26 10   .722
No. 17 Iowa State 13 7   .650 25 10   .714
Kansas 11 9   .550 21 13   .618
Baylor 10 10   .500 20 15   .571
West Virginia 10 10   .500 19 13   .594
TCU 9 11   .450 16 16   .500
Kansas State 9 11   .450 16 17   .485
Utah 8 12   .400 16 17   .485
Oklahoma State 7 13   .350 17 18   .486
Cincinnati 7 13   .350 19 16   .543
UCF 7 13   .350 20 17   .541
Arizona State 4 16   .200 13 20   .394
Colorado 3 17   .150 14 21   .400
2025 Big 12 tournament winner
Rankings from AP poll

The 2024–25 Houston Cougars men's basketball team represented the University of Houston in the 2024–25 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Cougars were led by 11th-year head coach Kelvin Sampson. The team played their home games at the Fertitta Center as second-year members of the Big 12 Conference.

With a win over Cincinnati on March 1, 2025, the Cougars clinched their second straight outright Big 12 regular season conference championship.

As the No. 1 seed in the 2025 Big 12 men's basketball tournament, held at T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, Missouri, Houston received a bye to the quarterfinals. There, they defeated Colorado, 77–68, to advance to the semifinals, where they would defeat BYU, 74–54, to advance to the championship game, where they would secure a 72–64 victory over Arizona to claim their first tournament title.

As the tournament champion, Houston received an automatic bid to the 2025 NCAA tournament, also as the No. 1 seed. They were seeded in the Midwest region. There, they defeated SIU Edwardsville, 78–40, in the First round, Gonzaga, 81–76, in the Second round, Purdue, 62–60, in the Sweet Sixteen, and Tennessee, 69–50, in the Elite Eight to advance to their first Final Four since 2021. In the Final Four, they overcame a 14-point deficit to defeat Duke, 70–67, to advance to their first national championship since 1984. In the championship game, despite leading for nearly the entire game – the same thing Duke did to them in the Final Four – Houston ultimately lost to Florida, 65–63, denying them their first national title.