Compiling a competitive schedule is especially pertinent for the UH’s women’s basketball head coach Todd Buchanan.
“We’ve continued the trend of putting together a tough non-conference schedule that should pay dividends for us down the road,” Buchanan said in a news release. “Playing a schedule of this caliber is how you become a top-25 team, and we hope to reach our goals of returning to the national rankings and NCAA Tournament this season.”
The team’s 2012-13 schedule features two Southeastern Conference teams and eight teams that reached post-season tournaments last season.
The Cougars first travel to Mississippi State on Nov. 9 and return home to face Alabama at Hofheinz Pavilion. The Cougars open conference play against Memphis on Jan. 10 with a home game.
UH will play 16 games at Hofheinz Pavilion, which ties a record for second-most women’s basketball home games at Hofheinz for the second consecutive season.
“We’re extremely happy to be able to play so many of our games in front of our ‘sixth man’ at Hofheinz, and we hope they’ll come out and give us a true home-court advantage,” Buchanan said. “With Porsche (Landry) returning, along with some incredibly talented newcomers, we look to provide our fans with an exciting brand of basketball.”
The Cougars will use this new mix of players to build on a tough season last year that was hampered by injuries to several key players. Landry will return for her senior season after an injury in the third game of 2011-12 season.
UH also brings in eight newcomers to the squad. The Cougars’ class was ranked No. 40 in ESPN HoopGurlz’ final rankings, while being pegged as the 22nd best in the nation by Dan Olson’s Collegiate Girls Basketball Report.
