1976–77 Houston Cougars men's basketball team

American college basketball season

1976–77 Houston Cougars men's basketball

NIT, Runner-up
Conference	Southwest Conference
Record	29–8 (13–3 SWC)
Head coach	Guy Lewis (21st season)
Assistant coaches	Harvey Pate Don Schverak
Home arena	Hofheinz Pavilion
Seasons← 1975–76 1977–78 →

1976–77 Southwest Conference men's basketball standings
v t e	Conf				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
No. 18 Arkansas†	16	–	0	1.000	26	–	2	.929
Houston	13	–	3	.813	29	–	8	.784
Texas Tech	12	–	4	.750	20	–	9	.690
Texas	8	–	8	.500	13	–	13	.500
Texas A&M	8	–	8	.500	14	–	14	.500
SMU	7	–	9	.438	8	–	19	.296
Baylor	5	–	11	.313	11	–	17	.393
Rice	3	–	13	.188	9	–	18	.333
TCU	0	–	16	.000	3	–	23	.115

† 1977 SWC tournament winner Rankings from AP Poll

The 1976–77 Houston Cougars men's basketball team represented the University of Houston in NCAA Division I competition in the 1976–77 season.

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

Roster

1976–77 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)	—	Jr
G	10	Otis Birdsong	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)	190 lb (86 kg)	Sr	Winter Haven HS	Winter Haven, Florida
G	14	Ken Ciolli	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)	—	So
C	30	Mike Schultz	6 ft 9 in (2.06 m)	—	Jr
F	40	Cedric Fears	6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)	—	So
F	44	Charles Thompson	6 ft 7 in (2.01 m)	—	Jr

Head coach

Guy Lewis (Houston)

Assistant coach(es)

Harvey Pate
Don Schverak

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
Nov 28, 1976*		Texas Lutheran	W 96–69	1–0	Hofheinz Pavilion Houston, Texas
Dec 1, 1976*		at Lamar	W 101–92	2–0	McDonald Gym Beaumont, Texas
Dec 3, 1976*		Biscayne	W 104–64	3–0	Hofheinz Pavilion Houston, Texas
Dec 6, 1976*		at No. 6 San Francisco	L 85–100	3–1	War Memorial Gymnasium San Francisco, California
Dec 11, 1976*		Trinity (TX)	W 124–67	4–1	Hofheinz Pavilion Houston, Texas
Dec 13, 1976*		Lamar	W 103–83	5–1	Hofheinz Pavilion Houston, Texas
Dec 17, 1976*		Nevada Bluebonnet Classic	W 100–78	6–1	Hofheinz Pavilion Houston, Texas
Dec 18, 1976*		UC Santa Barbara Bluebonnet Classic	W 77–62	7–1	Hofheinz Pavilion Houston, Texas
Dec 27, 1976*		vs. Illinois Rainbow Classic	W 69–66	8–1	Neal S. Blaisdell Center Honolulu, Hawaii
Dec 29, 1976*		at Hawaii Rainbow Classic	W 101–74	9–1	Neal S. Blaisdell Center Honolulu, Hawaii
Dec 30, 1976*		vs. No. 3 San Francisco Rainbow Classic	L 81–86	9–2	Neal S. Blaisdell Center Honolulu, Hawaii
Jan 2, 1977*		at No. 8 UCLA	L 83–96	9–3	Pauley Pavilion Los Angeles, California
Jan 6, 1977*		Houston Baptist	W 111–79	10–3	Hofheinz Pavilion Houston, Texas
Jan 8, 1977		at No. 18 Arkansas	L 70–81	10–4 (0–1)	Barnhill Arena Fayetteville, Arkansas
Jan 12, 1977		Rice	W 106–56	11–4 (1–1)	Hofheinz Pavilion Houston, Texas
Jan 15, 1977		at TCU	W 78–74	12–4 (2–1)	Daniel-Meyer Coliseum Fort Worth, Texas
Jan 18, 1977		Texas	W 95–81	13–4 (3–1)	Hofheinz Pavilion Houston, Texas
Jan 22, 1977		at Texas A&M	W 78–71	14–4 (4–1)	G. Rollie White Coliseum College Station, Texas
Jan 24, 1977		Baylor	W 111–89	15–4 (5–1)	Hofheinz Pavilion Houston, Texas
Jan 27, 1977		at Texas Tech	L 83–84	15–5 (5–2)	Lubbock Municipal Coliseum Lubbock, Texas
Jan 29, 1977		at SMU	W 103–102	16–5 (6–2)	Moody Coliseum University Park, Texas
Feb 1, 1977		Texas Tech	W 94–87	17–5 (7–2)	Hofheinz Pavilion Houston, Texas
Feb 5, 1977		No. 14 Arkansas	L 80–82	17–6 (7–3)	Hofheinz Pavilion Houston, Texas
Feb 8, 1977		at Rice	W 109–73	18–6 (8–3)	Rice Gymnasium Houston, Texas
Feb 10, 1977		SMU	W 115–83	19–6 (9–3)	Hofheinz Pavilion Houston, Texas
Feb 12, 1977		TCU	W 114–74	20–6 (10–3)	Hofheinz Pavilion Houston, Texas
Feb 15, 1977		at Texas	W 95–84	21–6 (11–3)	Gregory Gymnasium Austin, Texas
Feb 19, 1977		Texas A&M	W 116–83	22–6 (12–3)	Hofheinz Pavilion Houston, Texas
Feb 23, 1977		at Baylor	W 78–76	23–6 (13–3)	Heart O' Texas Coliseum Waco, Texas
SWC Tournament
Feb 26, 1977*	(2)	(9) TCU First round	W 111–67	24–6	Hofheinz Pavilion Houston, Texas
Mar 3, 1977*	(2)	vs. (5) Texas A&M Quarterfinals	W 96–77	25–6	The Summit Houston, Texas
Mar 4, 1977*	(2)	vs. (3) Texas Tech Semifinals	W 94–83	26–6	The Summit Houston, Texas
Mar 5, 1977*	(2)	vs. (1) No. 7 Arkansas Championship	L 70–84	26–7	The Summit Houston, Texas
NIT
Mar 9, 1977*		Indiana State First round	W 83–82	27–7	Hofheinz Pavilion Houston, Texas
Mar 14, 1977*		vs. Illinois State Quarterfinals	W 91–90	28–7	Madison Square Garden New York City, New York
Mar 17, 1977*		vs. No. 11 Alabama Semifinals	W 82–76	29–7	Madison Square Garden New York City, New York
Mar 20, 1977*		vs. St. Bonaventure Championship	L 91–94	29–8	Madison Square Garden New York City, New York
*Non-conference game. Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Central Time.

Rankings

Main article: 1976–77 NCAA Division I men's basketball rankings

References

"1976-77 Men's Basketball Schedule". University of Houston Athletics. Retrieved December 23, 2024.
*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

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