Three SEC Matchups to Keep an Eye on for Houston Men's Basketball

Houston's 1-2 trip in last season's Players' Era debut, which fueled a slow 4-3 start in 2024-25, became easily washed away with a 31-1 run all the way to the national championship game in San Antonio. One key part of the run was the Cougars' 69-50 win over Tennessee in the Elite Eight, in which holding the Volunteers to 28.8% shooting and 17.2% from three-point range led them to their seventh Final Four appearance in program history.

While participants are already awarded $1 million in NIL, the goal for Houston, along with newest Players' Era participant and opponent Tennessee, is to sweep their opening pools in the tournament en route to the winners' pool for a chance to win an additional $1 million, leaving the stakes immediately high in this 2025 Elite Eight rematch on Nov. 25.

The Volunteers are riding on the returns of forwards Felix Okpara and Cade Phillips in 2025-26, along with the addition of Maryland transfer guard Ja'Kobi Gillespie. The two teams will face off on Nov. 25.

2. Return home-and-home... in the Magic City

Just two games into 2024-25, there was already a matchup of the top two KenPom-rated programs in Houston and Auburn as part of Battleground 2K24 at the Toyota Center. Auburn took the first matchup of the semi-home-and-home series by a final of 74-69, fueled by freshman guard Tahaad Pettiford's 21 points. Both programs solidified themselves as top seeds en route to San Antonio.

To fulfill the back end of the two-year series, Auburn will find itself closer to home, as Battleground 2K25 will be underway at the historic Legacy Arena in Birmingham, Ala. The Nov. 16 matchup will also be a location rematch from the 2023 Round of 32 at the arena, where Houston overcame a 10-point halftime deficit to top Auburn 81-64 and advance to the Midwest Region final.

Auburn and Houston face off on Nov. 16.

3. Revisiting Southwest Conference pageantry... in the Tri-State Area

In what was supposed to be a classic Southwest Conference matchup on Dec. 20, originally rumored in the heart of Manhattan, then announced to be played at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, has now been moved to the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J., leaving a slight bit of disappointment amongst the college hoops community.

Houston is slated for its first matchup with Arkansas since a 91-65 victory for the Cougars at Texas Southern University's H&PE Arena on Dec. 2, 2017, in coach Kelvin Sampson's fourth season at the helm of the program. The 2017-18 season also marked the departure of athletic director Hunter Yurachek for Arkansas after two seasons at Houston.

The Razorbacks lead the all-time series against the Cougars 22-18, though Houston posted a 5-3 head-to-head mark in the Phi Slama Jama era from 1982 to 1984, including a sweep of Arkansas in 1982-83 en route to completing a perfect record in league play and clinching one of its two Southwest Conference championships.

The Razorbacks will reside in their second season under coach John Calipari after a Sweet 16 run as a No. 10 seed in the West, thanks to an unprecedented season of at-large bids for the SEC. However, Calipari is not far removed from previously facing Sampson's Cougars, when as head coach at Kentucky, his 2018-19 team, as a No. 2 seed, topped No. 3-seeded Houston 62-58 in the Midwest Region Sweet 16 behind 19 points from then freshman guard and current Miami Heat guard Tyler Herro.

Arkansas and Houston hit the floor on Dec. 20.