Men's Basketball Sports

Houston finishes regular season atop the AP poll

Jamal Shead's buzzer-beater to lift UH over Memphis on Sunday cemented the Cougars as the No. 1 team in the AP poll to finish the regular season. | Anh Le/The Cougar

Jamal Shead’s buzzer-beater to lift UH over Memphis on Sunday cemented the Cougars as the No. 1 team in the AP poll to finish the regular season. | Anh Le/The Cougar

Houston (29-2) finished the regular season at No. 1 in the AP poll for just the third time in program history, receiving 58 of the 61 first-place votes.

The 1967-68 and 1982-83 seasons are the only other times the Cougars finished the regular season atop the AP poll. UH made the Final Four in both of those years.

By defeating Memphis on Jamal Shead’s buzzer-beater in Sunday’s regular-season finale, the Cougars tied the program record for regular season wins with 29. In its final season in the American Athletic Conference, UH also matched the 2016-17 SMU team with a 17-1 conference record, the best in league history.

“Our kids know how to win,” UH head coach Kelvin Sampson said after the win over Memphis. “To be 29-2 and 17-1 (in the AAC) and win in every gym in the league, I’m just proud of our program.”

Going 11-0 in true road games, UH was the only team in the country to go undefeated away from home. UH also went 2-0 in neutral site games with wins over Saint Joseph’s and Saint Mary’s.

The Cougars head to Fort Worth looking to win their third consecutive AAC Tournament championship as the league’s No. 1 seed. UH will play the winner of East Carolina and South Florida in the quarterfinals on Friday at noon.

UH, which holds the top spot in both the NCAA NET and KenPom rankings, is projected to be one of the four No. 1 seeds in the NCAA Tournament on Selection Sunday. 

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