Cougars’ basketball schedule includes National Champion Louisville

The Cougars officially joined the American Athletic Conference on July 1. | Courtesy of UH Athletics

After leaving Conference USA, Hofheinz Pavillion needed a facelift. | Courtesy of UH Athletics

In May, UH unveiled plans to renovate and expand Hofheinz Pavillion that are expected to be completed by 2015. | Courtesy of UH Athletics

The Cougars replaced the old Conference USA logo with a one to signify their new conference affiliation. | Courtesy of UH Athletics.

Here, the new American logo is complete. | Courtesy of UH Athletics

In the new and more talent-filled American Athletic Conference, the Cougars will compete against many NCAA tournament-tested teams. UH will face NCAA champion Louisville and tournament teams Cincinnati, Memphis and Temple twice this season.

The Cougars will face each member of the 10-team conference both home and away, starting at home against UConn on Dec. 31. Each of the Cougars’ 18 American Athletic Conference regular-season games as well as the Championship Rounds of the Legends Classic will be televised nationally on the ESPN family of networks or CBS Sports Network.

“From top to bottom, this will be one of the top college basketball leagues in the country,” head coach James Dickey said. “With our increased television coverage, Houston fans around the world can regularly watch the Cougars compete against some of the best teams in college basketball.”

UH will play a total of seventeen home games inside Hofheinz Pavilion with nine against NCAA Tournament teams from a season ago.

The Cougars’ first 13 games will be non-conference, with their five of their first six games being inside Hofheinz Pavilion as they open up against St. Thomas for an exhibition contest on Nov. 5 at 7 p.m.

On Nov. 25, the Cougars will head to the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y., to compete in the Championship Rounds of the Legends Classic. They will face Stanford that night at 8:30 p.m. on ESPN2, then take on Pittsburgh or Texas Tech the ensuing night on ESPN3 or ESPNU.

After the regular season concludes, the Cougars head to Memphis’ FedExForum to compete in their first American Athletic Conference Championship on March 12-15. The winner of the league’s postseason event receives an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, which begins March 18-19 with the First Four in Dayton, Ohio

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Tags: AAC, American, American Athletic Conference, UH