More will be expected from sophomore guard Alecia Smith on the offensive end in order to replace the points and leadership that former guard Porsche Landry provided last season. | File photo/The Daily Cougar
The 2013-14 schedule for the UH women’s basketball team will consist of 15 home games and 14 contests against postseason squads from a year ago, including the NCAA champion Connecticut and runner-up Louisville, for their debut season in the American Athletic Conference, the team announced Wednesday.
The Cougars’ first game will be on Nov. 8 against Mississippi State with their first conference game set to tip-off on Dec. 28 against UCF, both of which are home games set for Hofheinz Pavilion.
“We’re incredibly excited about competing in the American Athletic Conference this season, which is arguably the toughest league in the nation,” said head coach Todd Buchanan in a statement. “We’ll have a marquee home schedule between our league games and some of our non-conference match-ups and will need our ‘sixth man’ at Hofheinz behind us more than ever.”
UH will be presented with a non-conference slate that includes four postseason teams from a season ago and four contests against opponents from the Southeastern Conference and Pac-12, including in-state foe A&M.
It will be the first match against the Aggies since 2003, when former great Chandi Jones helped the Cougars edge out a 46-40 victory.
The Cougars will go head-to-head against all nine members of the American in a home-and-away series, which will continue the rivalries with UCF, SMU and Memphis while facing Rutgers, Connecticut and Temple for the first time in program history.
With Connecticut and Louisville ending the 2013 season ranked No. 1 and No. 3, respectively, in the USA Today coaches poll, the Cougars potentially have an opportunity to host a top-five opponent for the first time since hosting No. 2 Georgia in 1999.
