The Cougars will hold two celebrations at their home finale against Rice today.
At halftime, UH’s three members of the NBA’s 50 all-time greatest players list will make an appearance.
Elvin Hayes, Clyde Drexler and Hakeem Olajuwon will all be recognized during a halftime ceremony, as the three were selected as Top 75 All-Time March Madness Players by a panel of college basketball experts commissioned by the NCAA.
Olajuwon and Drexler led the Cougars to 3 straight NCAA Final Four appearances. Olajuwon, who went by ‘Akeem’ while at UH, was dominant in college. He and Drexler were a big part of the famed Phi Slama Jama team that became an NCAA finalist twice and went to the Final Four three consecutive times.
Before the game, the Cougars will honor senior forward Leon Gibson and senior student manager E.J. Akeredolu. The team will also recognize them during pregame ceremonies.
This season, Gibson is averaging 5.6 points and 5.3 rebounds per game. He has 11 starts in 26 games played this season. Gibson has been one of the best post players, and he made strides on offense. He scored a career-high 20 points on 8 out of 9 shooting in the season-opening win against Florida A&M University.
Gibson transferred from Navarro Junior College and joined the Cougars as a junior. He is scheduled to graduate in the spring with a bachelor’s degree in sociology.
The team will be looking to avenge an earlier loss to Rice. The Cougars’ in-city rival dropped them by double digits, 79-69.
Head coach James Dickey said the Cougars need the victory.
“We need to get that one; we will have one more and then we go to Tulsa,” Dickey said.
“We need to get as many conference victories as we can and, more importantly, we need to get better and gain momentum as we move towards the tournament.”
The Cougars will also give away an Elvin Hayes bobblehead to the first 1,000 fans.
