2023–24 Houston Cougars women's basketball team

The 2023–24 Houston Cougars women's basketball team represented the University of Houston during the 2023–24 NCAA Division I women's basketball season. The Cougars, were led by tenth-year head coach Ronald Hughey and played their home games at the Fertitta Center as members of the Big 12 Conference.^[1]

2023–24 Houston Cougars women's basketball
Conference	Big 12 Conference
Record	14–16 (5–13 Big 12)
Head coach	Ronald Hughey (10th season)
Associate head coach	Tai Dillard Vonn Read
Assistant coach	Chynna Grimes
Home arena	Fertitta Center
Seasons ← 2022–23 2024–25 →

2023–24 Big 12 Conference women's basketball standings

v t e	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
No. 21 Oklahoma	15	–	3		.833			23	–	10		.697
No. 7 Texas †	14	–	4		.778			33	–	5		.868
No. 19 Kansas State	13	–	5		.722			26	–	8		.765
No. 25 Iowa State	12	–	6		.667			21	–	12		.636
No. 13 Baylor	12	–	6		.667			26	–	8		.765
No. 24 West Virginia	12	–	6		.667			25	–	8		.758
Kansas	11	–	7		.611			20	–	13		.606
Oklahoma State	7	–	11		.389			14	–	16		.467
TCU	6	–	12		.333			21	–	12		.636
BYU	6	–	12		.333			16	–	17		.485
Cincinnati	5	–	13		.278			14	–	18		.438
Texas Tech	5	–	13		.278			17	–	16		.515
Houston	5	–	13		.278			14	–	16		.467
UCF	3	–	15		.167			12	–	17		.414
† 2024 Big 12 tournament winner Rankings from AP poll

Previous season

The Cougars finished the 2022–23 season 15–16, 10–5 in AAC play to finish in fourth place. As a No. 4 seed in the AAC women's tournament advanced in the quarterfinals they defeated No. 5 seed SMU and No. 8 Wichita State in the semifinals before losing in the championship game to No. 3 East Carolina.

Offseason

Departures

Houston Departures

Name	Number	Pos.	Height	Year	Hometown	Reason for Departure
Tiara Young	2	G	5'9"	Senior	Shreveport, LA	Graduate transferred to SMU
Tae'Lor Purvis	4	G	5'7"	Junior	Houston, TX	Transferred to Xavier
Taryn Johnson	5	G	5'8"	Freshman	San Diego, CA
De'Myla Brown	15	G	5'7"	Senior	North Little Rock, AR	Graduate transferred to Missouri
Kendall Brown	21	G	5'7"	Sophomore	DeSoto, TX	Transferred to Prairie View A&M
Ca'Leyah Burrell	25	G	5'8"	Senior	Waco, TX	Graduated
Tatyana Hill	30	F	6'2"	GS Senior	Houston, TX	Graduated

Incoming

Houston Incoming Transfers

Name	Num	Pos.	Height	Year	Hometown	Previous School
Gigi Cooke	3	G	5'9"	Sophomore	Clinton, MD	Maryland
N'Yah Boyd	5	G	5'6"	Senior	Mesquite, TX	UTEP
Maliyah Johnson	21	F	6'0"	Junior	Columbus, OH	Pittsburgh
Djessira Diawara	30	F	6'3"	Senior	Bamako, Mali	Clarendon College
Shalexxus Aaron	35	G	6'1"	Senior	Apple Valley, CA	Oregon State
Peyton McFarland	42	F	6'4"	Junior	Boise, ID	Utah

Recruiting

There were no recruiting classing class of 2023.

Roster

2023–24 Houston Cougars women's basketball team
Players	Coaches
Pos. # Name Height Year Previous school Hometown F 1 Bria Patterson 5 ft 11 in (1.8 m) GS DeSoto DeSoto, TX G 2 Kierra Merchant 5 ft 7 in (1.7 m) Fr Westfield Spring, TX G 3 Gia Cooke 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m) So Bishop McNamara Maryland Clinton, MD G 5 N'Yah Boyd 5 ft 6 in (1.68 m) GS Horn UTEP Mesquite, TX G 10 Britney Onyeje 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m) GS Pflugerville UCF Pflugerville, TX G 11 Ash'a Thompson 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) Sr DeSoto Old Dominion DeSoto, TX G 14 Laila Blair 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m) Sr Waller Houston, TX F 21 Maliyah Johnson 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) Jr Africentric Early College Pittsburgh Columbus, OH F 22 Avalon Miller 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) Sr Riverton Gulf Coast State College Salt Lake City, UT F 30 Djessira Diawara 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) Sr Massa Makan Diabaté Clarendon College Bamako, Mali G 32 Amari Conn 5 ft 7 in (1.7 m) Sr Lincoln Prep Little Rock Kansas City, MO F 33 Logyn McNeil 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) RS So Rockwall-Heath LSU Rockwall, TX F 34 Kamryn Jones 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) Sr Magnolia West Magnolia, TX G 35 Shalexxus Aaron 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) RS Sr Martin Luther King Oregon State Apple Valley, CA F 42 Peyton McFarland 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) Sr Boise Utah Boise, ID	Head coach Ronald Hughey (Limestone College) Assistant coach(es) Tai Dillard (Texas) Vonn Read (Clark Atlanta) Chynna Grimes (Wichita State) Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible (W) Walk-on Injured Current redshirt Roster

Schedule

^[2]

Date time, TV	Rank#	Opponent#	Result	Record	Site (attendance) city, state
Non-conference regular season
November 10, 2023* 7:00 p.m., BIG12/ESPN+		Air Force	W 99–61	1–0	Fertitta Center (935) Houston, TX
November 14, 2023* 7:00 p.m., BIG12/ESPN+		Sam Houston	W 106–65	2–0	Fertitta Center (964) Houston, TX
November 19, 2023* 2:00 p.m., BIG12/ESPN+		Grambling State	W 106–74	3–0	Fertitta Center (897) Houston, TX
November 26, 2023* 2:00 p.m., BIG12/ESPN+		New Orleans	W 81–54	4–0	Fertitta Center (1,139) Houston, TX
November 29, 2023* 7:00 p.m., BIG12/ESPN+		Middle Tennessee	L 45–70	4–1	Fertitta Center (698) Houston, TX
December 3, 2023* 2:00 p.m., BIG12/ESPN+		Florida A&M	W 79–59	5–1	Fertitta Center (1,160) Houston, TX
December 8, 2023* 7:00 p.m., ESPN+		at Texas A&M–Commerce	W 86–53	6–1	The Field House (1,189) Commerce, TX
December 12, 2023* 11:00 a.m., BIG12/ESPN+		Texas Southern	W 89–42	7–1	Fertitta Center (3,658) Houston, TX
December 14, 2023* 6:00 p.m., ESPN+		at UTSA	W 66–64	8–1	Convocation Center (869) San Antonio,TX
December 17, 2023* 4:00 p.m., P12N		at Washington State	L 48–95	8–2	Beasley Coliseum (956) Pullman, WA
December 20, 2023* 1:00 p.m., BIG12/ESPN+		Rice rivalry	W 71–63 OT	9–2	Fertitta Center (1,033) Houston, TX
Big 12 Conference regular season
December 30, 2023 1:00 p.m., BIG12/ESPN+		Texas Tech	L 71–79	9–3 (0–1)	Fertitta Center (1,975) Houston, TX
January 3, 2024 6:30 p.m., BIG12/ESPN+		at No. 11 Kansas State	L 38–72	9–4 (0–2)	Bramlage Coliseum (3,397) Manhattan, KS
January 6, 2024 2:00 p.m., BIG12/ESPN+		at No. 6 Baylor	L 58–87	9–5 (0–3)	Foster Pavilion (4,530) Waco, TX
January 10, 2024 7:00 p.m., BIG12/ESPN+		BYU	W 79–69	10–5 (1–3)	Fertitta Center (805) Houston, TX
January 13, 2024 2:00 p.m., BIG12/ESPN+		TCU	W 77–66	11–5 (2–3)	Fertitta Center (1,635) Houston, TX
January 17, 2024 6:00 p.m., BIG12/ESPN+		at West Virginia	L 39–80	11–6 (2–4)	WVU Coliseum (2,251) Morgantown, WV
January 20, 2024 6:00 p.m., BIG12/ESPN+		Oklahoma	L 65–71	11–7 (2–5)	Fertitta Center (1,780) Houston, TX
January 24, 2024 6:00 p.m., BIG12/ESPN+		at Texas Tech	L 48–66	11–8 (2–6)	United Supermarkets Arena (4,775) Lubbock, TX
January 27, 2024 1:00 p.m., BIG12/ESPN+		at UCF	L 87–92 OT	11–9 (2–7)	Addition Financial Arena (1,092) Orlando, FL
January 30, 2024 7:00 p.m., BIG12/ESPN+		Cincinnati	W 54–46	12–9 (3–7)	Fertitta Center (974) Houston, TX
February 4, 2024 2:00 p.m., BIG12/ESPN+		No. 13 Baylor	L 60–83	12–10 (3–8)	Fertitta Center (2,069) Houston, TX
February 8, 2024 6:30 p.m., BIG12/ESPN+		at Kansas	L 52–69	12–11 (3–9)	Allen Fieldhouse (3,090) Lawrence, KS
February 14, 2024 7:00 p.m., BIG12/ESPN+		No. 5 Texas	L 66–82	12–12 (3–10)	Fertitta Center (1,610) Houston, TX
February 17, 2024 4:00 p.m., BIG12/ESPN+		at Oklahoma State	W 65–57	13–12 (4–10)	Gallagher-Iba Arena (2,112) Stillwater, OK
February 21, 2024 7:00 p.m., BIG12/ESPN+		Iowa State	L 64–76	13–13 (4–11)	Fertitta Center (995) Houston, TX
February 24, 2024 6:00 p.m., BIG12/ESPN+		at TCU	L 49–59	13–14 (4–12)	Schollmaier Arena (2,133) Fort Worth, TX
February 28, 2024 8:00 p.m., BIG12/ESPN+		at BYU	L 54–64	13–15 (4–13)	Marriott Center (1,760) Provo, UT
March 2, 2024 7:00 p.m., BIG12/ESPN+		UCF	W 68–67	14–15 (5–13)	Fertitta Center (1,141) Houston, TX
Big 12 Conference Tournament
March 7, 2024 5:30 p.m., ESPN+	(13)	vs. (12) Texas Tech First Round	L 60–74	14–16	T-Mobile Center  Kansas City, MO
*Non-conference game. #Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Central Time. [3][4]

See also

• 2023–24 Houston Cougars men's basketball team

References

1. "Women's college basketball preview: A look at UH, Texas, A&M, Rice, HCU, TSU and Prairie View". Houston Chronicle. November 6, 2023. Retrieved November 26, 2023.
2. "University of Houston Official Athletic Site :: Women's Basketball". Uhcougars.Com.
3. "Cougars Announce 11 Game Non-Con Schedule". uhcougars.com. September 6, 2023. Retrieved November 26, 2023.
4. "Inaugural Big 12 Women's Basketball Schedule Released". uhcougars.com. September 26, 2023. Retrieved November 26, 2023.