2016 – 17 Houston Cougars men 's basketball team represented the University of Houston during the 2016 – 17 NCAA Division I men 's basketball season . The Cougars were led by third-year head coach Kelvin Sampson and were members of the American Athletic Conference . The Cougars played their home games at Hofheinz Pavilion . They finished the season 21 – 11 , 12 – 6 in AAC play to finish in third place . They lost to UConn in the quarterfinals of the AAC Tournament . They received an at-large bid to the National Invitation Tournament as a No. 2 seed and lost in the first round to Akron
AAC Tournament
2017 American Athletic Conference Men's Basketball Tournament
2016–17 Houston Cougars men's basketball team