1975–76 Houston Cougars men's basketball team

American college basketball season

1975–76 Houston Cougars men's basketball

Conference	Southwest Conference
Record	17–11 (7–9 SWC)
Head coach	Guy Lewis (20th season)
Assistant coaches	Harvey Pate Don Schverak
Home arena	Hofheinz Pavilion
Seasons← 1974–75 1976–77 →

1975–76 Southwest Conference men's basketball standings
v t e	Conf				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
Texas A&M	14	–	2	.875	21	–	6	.778
No. 16 Texas Tech†	13	–	3	.813	25	–	6	.806
SMU	10	–	6	.625	16	–	12	.571
Arkansas	9	–	7	.563	19	–	9	.679
Baylor	8	–	8	.500	12	–	15	.444
Houston	7	–	9	.438	17	–	11	.607
TCU	6	–	10	.375	11	–	16	.407
Texas	4	–	12	.250	9	–	17	.346
Rice	1	–	15	.063	3	–	24	.111

† 1976 SWC tournament winner Rankings from AP Poll

The 1975–76 Houston Cougars men's basketball team represented the University of Houston in NCAA Division I competition in the 1975–76 season.

Houston, coached by Guy Lewis, played its home games in the Hofheinz Pavilion in Houston, Texas, and was in their first season as a member of the Southwest Conference.

Roster

1975–76 Houston Cougars men's basketball team

Players

Coaches

Pos.	#	Name	Height	Weight	Year	Previous school	Hometown
G	00	Cecile Rose	6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)	189 lb (86 kg)	So		Nassau, The Bahamas
G	10	Otis Birdsong	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)	190 lb (86 kg)	Jr	Winter Haven HS	Winter Haven, Florida
G	14	Ken Ciolli	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)	—	Fr
F	44	Charles Thompson	6 ft 7 in (2.01 m)	230 lb (104 kg)	So
F	50	David Marrs	6 ft 8 in (2.03 m)	—	Sr

Head coach

Guy Lewis (Houston)

Assistant coach(es)

Harvey Pate (Oklahoma State)
Don Schverak (Houston)

Legend

(C) Team captain
(S) Suspended
(I) Ineligible
(W) Walk-on

Injured
Current redshirt

Roster

Schedule and results

Date time, TV	Rank	Opponent	Result	Record	Site city, state
Regular season
Dec 6, 1975*		Cal Poly	W 74–63	1–0	Hofheinz Pavilion Houston, Texas
Dec 9, 1975*		Texas A&I	W 120–86	2–0	Hofheinz Pavilion Houston, Texas
Dec 13, 1975*		St. Mary's	W 87–78	3–0	Hofheinz Pavilion Houston, Texas
Dec 20, 1975*		Louisiana Tech	W 96–72	4–0	Hofheinz Pavilion Houston, Texas
Dec 27, 1975*		at Dayton	W 72–68	5–0	UD Arena Dayton, Ohio
Dec 29, 1975*		at No. 10 UNLV Holiday Classic	L 92–116	5–1	Las Vegas Convention Center Las Vegas, Nevada
Dec 30, 1975*		vs. No. 20 La Salle Holiday Classic	W 90–87	6–1	Las Vegas Convention Center Las Vegas, Nevada
Jan 2, 1976*		Houston Baptist Bluebonnet Classic	W 78–59	7–1	Hofheinz Pavilion Houston, Texas
Jan 3, 1976*		No. 19 San Francisco Bluebonnet Classic	W 94–73	8–1	Hofheinz Pavilion Houston, Texas
Jan 5, 1976		at Arkansas	L 47–92	8–2 (0–1)	Barnhill Arena Fayetteville, Arkansas
Jan 10, 1976		Rice	W 87–59	9–2 (1–1)	Hofheinz Pavilion Houston, Texas
Jan 12, 1976		Arkansas	W 72–71	10–2 (2–1)	Hofheinz Pavilion Houston, Texas
Jan 14, 1976		at TCU	L 70–88	10–3 (2–2)	Daniel-Meyer Coliseum Fort Worth, Texas
Jan 17, 1976		Texas	W 63–58	11–3 (3–2)	Hofheinz Pavilion Houston, Texas
Jan 20, 1976		at Texas A&M	L 67–74	11–4 (3–3)	G. Rollie White Coliseum College Station, Texas
Jan 24, 1976		Baylor	W 79–73	12–4 (4–3)	Hofheinz Pavilion Houston, Texas
Jan 26, 1976		at SMU	L 75–87	12–5 (4–4)	Moody Coliseum University Park, Texas
Jan 31, 1976		Texas Tech	L 54–57	12–6 (4–5)	Hofheinz Pavilion Houston, Texas
Feb 3, 1976*		Houston Baptist	W 91–71	13–6	Hofheinz Pavilion Houston, Texas
Feb 7, 1976		at Rice	W 99–79	14–6 (5–5)	Rice Gymnasium Houston, Texas
Feb 10, 1976		TCU	W 103–95	15–6 (6–5)	Hofheinz Pavilion Houston, Texas
Feb 14, 1976		at Texas	L 86–95	15–7 (6–6)	Gregory Gymnasium Austin, Texas
Feb 17, 1976		Texas A&M	L 80–94	15–8 (6–7)	Hofheinz Pavilion Houston, Texas
Feb 21, 1976		at Baylor	L 72–79	15–9 (6–8)	Heart O' Texas Coliseum Waco, Texas
Feb 24, 1976		SMU	W 100–98	16–9 (7–8)	Hofheinz Pavilion Houston, Texas
Feb 26, 1976		at Texas Tech	L 85–93	16–10 (7–9)	Lubbock Municipal Coliseum Lubbock, Texas
SWC tournament
Feb 28, 1976*	(6)	at (5) Baylor First round	W 88–86	17–10	Heart O' Texas Coliseum Waco, Texas
Mar 4, 1976*	(6)	vs. (2) Texas Tech Quarterfinals	L 69–80	17–11	Moody Coliseum University Park, Texas
*Non-conference game. Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Central Time.

Rankings

Main article: 1975–76 NCAA Division I men's basketball rankings

References

"1975-76 Men's Basketball Schedule". University of Houston Athletics. Retrieved January 1, 2025.
*ESPN College Basketball Encyclopedia: The Complete History of the Men's Game. Random House. 2009. pp. 846–847. ISBN 978-0-345-51392-2.

v t e Houston Cougars men's basketball
Venues	Sam Houston Coliseum (select games; 1937–19??) Jeppesen Gymnasium (1946–1966) Delmar Fieldhouse (1966–1969) Fertitta Center (1969–present) Health and Physical Education Arena (2017–2018)
Rivalries	Rice SMU
Culture & lore	Shasta Phi Slama Jama Game of the Century "Cougar Fight Song" Spirit of Houston
People	Head coaches NBA players Statistical leaders
Seasons	List of seasons 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25
NCAA Final Four appearances in italics

Categories: