Preview: Kansas vs Houston Basketball on Big Monday

• Who:  No. 2 Houston Cougars (23-4, 11-3 Big 12) vs. No. 8 Kansas Jayhawks (20-7, 10-4)
• What: 28th regular season game for both teams, the 15th conference game, and the first meeting between these teams this season
• When: Monday, February 23 at 8 p.m CT.
• Where: Allen Fieldhouse (15,300) in Lawrence, KS.
• TV/Streaming: ESPN (To access link, CLICK HERE)
• Announcers: Jon "Boog" Sciambi (play-by-play), Fran Fraschilla (analyst)
• Radio: As always, fans can tune into Jayhawk Radio Network to listen to the Voice of the Jayhawks, Brian Hanni, call the contest (810 AM, 1510 AM, 99.3 FM in Kansas City, 94.7 KSKU, 99.3/1370 KIOL in Wichita). The pregame show begins 30 minutes prior to tip-off at 7:30 p.m.
• Radio announcers: Brian Hanni (play-by-play)
• This season:  Kansas has endured an up-and-down stretch in Big 12 play, losing two of its first three games before opening an eight-game winning streak. Iowa State snapped that run with a blowout in Ames, and Cincinnati later upset the Jayhawks for their worst loss of the season two days ago. Meanwhile, Houston had been nearly flawless before this past week, falling to Iowa State on the road and Arizona at home. Despite that, UH still sits above the Jayhawks in the conference standings and has not lost three straight since 2017, meaning Kelvin Sampson will be urgently looking to guide his team back into the win column.
• Series history: Kansas leads the all-time series 6-5, though the Jayhawks have lost the past three matchups. The two schools had not met on the hardwood since 2001 since UH joined the conference two seasons ago.

Meet the Coaches

• Kelvin Sampson, Houston: Sampson, now 70, has coached at Washington State, Oklahoma, Indiana, and Houston. While he had several notable battles with Bill Self at OU, he has enjoyed his greatest success at UH. He led the Cougars to the national title game last year as the runner-up and has posted an outstanding 90-14 record since joining the Big 12.
  Bill Self, Kansas: Self holds a 1-4 all-time record against Houston, with three of those losses coming at Kansas and the other coming during his time at Tulsa in 1997. The Hall of Fame head coach is in his 23rd year at the helm and is one of the most accomplished in the sport's history.

Leading scorers

Kansas

• G Darryn Peterson: 19.8 ppg, 3.8 rpg, 48.0 FG%
• C Flory Bidunga: 14.6 ppg, 9.3 rpg, 2.8 bpg, 66.4 FG%
• G Tre White: 13.7 ppg, 6.7 rpg, 40.4 3pt FG%

Houston

• G Kingston Flemings: 16.6 ppg, 5.2 apg, 49.0 FG%
• G Emmanuel Sharp: 16.4 ppg, 3.0 rpg, 87.6 FT%
• G Milos Uzan: 11.1 ppg, 4.1 apg, 34.0 3PT FG%