🆚 University of New Orleans
📆 Saturday – February 14, 2026
⏰ 3:30 pm CT
🏟️ Sharp Gymnasium – Houston, Texas
📈 LIVE STATS
📺 ESPN+
🗒️ Game NOTES
🗒️ Game PROGRAM
🆚 Nicholls State University
📆 Monday – February 16, 2026
⏰ 7 pm CT
🏟️ Sharp Gymnasium – Houston, Texas
📈 LIVE STATS
📺 ESPN+
🗒️ Game NOTES (Sunday)
🗒️ Game PROGRAM (Sunday)
Houston Christian University returns home for the first time in 19 days when it hosts University of New Orleans in a Valentine's Day matinee in Sharp Gym. The contest begins the final three weeks of the regular season, with HCU playing four of their final six at home in a push for a spot in the Southland Conference Tournament. The Huskies will host Nicholls State University on Monday night.
The home hardwood will be a welcome sight for the Huskies. HCU put up a strong fight in the finale of a four-game road stretch before succumbing to
73-69 to McNeese State University at the Townsley Law Arena on Monday night. The undermanned Huskies gave the second-place Pokes all they could handle until the hosts staved off a final flurry in the waning moments to escape with the win.
With just under six minutes remaining in the first half,
Kylin Green picked Garwey Dual's pocket for a swipe and score on the other end, and nearly 50 seconds later, a three from
Trent Johnson cut the lead to one, 28-27 closing in on the four-minute mark. The Huskies would trail by four, 37-33 at intermission.
Carl Cherenfant then converted an offensive putback and another layup off a turnover as the Cowboys got their lead back up to nine, 53-44 at the under-12 media. The Huskies weren't going away quietly however, and moments later
Demari Williams grabbed an offensive rebound off his own blocked shot, got the ball back in the corner and knocked down a triple to make it a one-possession game once more, 60-57 with 6:54 remaining.
McNeese would slowly pull away. A conventional three-point play by Javohn Garcia with three minutes left pushed McNeese up by seven, and after an HCU turnover, a jumper by Larry Johnson inched the lead to nine. HCU put together one last flurry. A jumper by
Ryan Bartley was followed by a steal and two free throws from Green, and the Huskies trailed by five with 1:19 to go but couldn't get over the last hurdle down the stretch.
A quartet of players hit the double-figure column in scoring for HCU, led by
Demari Williams who had 16 points to go along with four boards and three assists.
D'Aundre Samuels and
Ryan Bartley each recorded 15, with Samuels adding three caroms and a team-high four assists, while Bartley went 2-5 from deep and added three rebounds.
Demarco Bethea had 10 points and a team-high seven boards.
Craig Doty, the ninth head coach in program history, is now in his second season at the helm after guiding HCU to a 12-20 overall mark and 9-11 ledger in Southland Conference action in 2024-25. It was announced in early December that
Doty has signed a contract extension through the 2029-30 season.
The Huskies doubled their success rate from the previous season, going from six total wins to 12 and from four victories to nine in conference play, finishing seventh in the league after being picked to finish last. HCU advanced to the Southland Tournament and saw
Bryson Dawkins named All-Conference as just the second player in program history to pick up SLC First Team honors.
The Huskies are now 8-17 on the season and 4-12 in conference play. HCU is one game back of a four-way tie for the eighth and final playoff spot. UIW, East Texas A&M, Southeastern Louisiana and Northwestern State are all tied at 5-11 with six games left to play. HCU has split the season series with UIW, and lost both to SLU. HCU will
travel to play both East Texas A&M and Northwestern State for a second time this year on the next to last weekend of regular season play. The Huskies defeated both in the first two games of the most recent homestand.
Elijah Brooks, who missed the first four games of the season and has not played since returning from the Christmas break, still leads HCU at 12.3 points per night while also chipping in 4.5 boards, 3.1 assists and 1.5 steals per game.
Kylin Green is just behind him at 10.5 points to go with 4.0 boards while sitting third in the Southland Conference at 4.6 assists per night. He had a career-high 24 points in the loss over Thanksgiving week to Bellarmine and also registered a career-best 13 assists in the victory over ULM on November 13, the most in a game for HCU since Mike Moss had 13 against Chicago State in 2011.
Green flirted with a triple-double in the overtime home loss to Southeastern, finishing with eight points, nine boards and 10 assists. He had his third double-digit assist effort of the season with 10 in the last-second win over Northwestern State to become the first player with three in a season since Ricky Bennett in 2003-04. His six dimes vs. UIW put him at 104 to become the first HCU player to hit the century mark in a single-season since Ian DuBose had 111 during the 2019-20 campaign.
Since the Christmas break,
Demari Williams has provided a huge spark for the Huskies, first off the bench before then making his first start of the season at UIW.
He has scored in double-figures 10 times in the 13 games since returning from the holiday. In those 13 games (12 starts) Williams is one of just two HCU players averaging double-digits, leading the Huskies in scoring (14.8 ppg) while shooting 49% from the floor, 37% from deep and 82% from the charity stripe. The redshirt junior from Fulshear is averaging a team-best 13.1 ppg as well as 3.8 rebounds in conference action with shooting splits of 48/35/85.
Williams had a then career-best 19 points in the loss at then No. 3 Iowa State in the first game back (Dec. 29) and broke it five days later with his first-ever 20-point night, scoring 22 in the loss to UIW (1/3). That high then fell as well in the homestand finale, as Williams led a huge rally against UIW (1/27) with his 24 points on a career-best 13-14 from the free throw line. Williams averaged 23 points and six rebounds on 15-23 (65%) shooting from the field in the two regular-season games against UIW.
This most recent four-game road stretch saw Williams average 15.5 points and four rebounds while going 20-23 from the free-throw line (87%).
The Huskies have three players in double-figures overall on the season as Williams has joined the fray at 10.3 following Monday's game. In conference action, the Huskies also have three players in double-figures with Williams (13.1) passing
Elijah Brooks (11.5) for the team lead while
Demarco Bethea averages 10.1 and leads HCU on the backboards at 5.7 per in conference action. Bethea is one of seven players averaging 3.1 rebounds or more in SLC play. Green (9.4) sits right outside double-digits with
Ryan Bartley (9.0) not far behind.
D'Aundre Samuels has started the last nine games for HCU, averaging 10.9 points, 3.9 caroms and 2.8 assists over that stretch. On the four-game homestand, he averaged 11 points, 4.8 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 2.0 steals, then upped his scoring to 12.8 on the four-game road trip.
Ryan Bartley shot 9-19 from the arc in the four games away from Sharp Gym, including matching his career-best with four at TAMUCC on January 31. Dating back to the start of the four-game homestand, Bartley is now 14-31 (45.2%) over his last eight games.
On Thursday,
Trent Johnson was selected to the
E*TRADE Men's 3-Point contest "watch list" as part of 37th annual State Farm College Slam Dunk & 3-Point Championships at Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis on Friday, April 3. The event will be broadcast nationally on ESPN on Sunday (April 5). Johnson is currently averaging 8.5 points per game for the Huskies while knocking down 42.6% of his tries from long distance. He is 18th in the Southland Conference in three-pointers per game at 1.7 and is also hitting a robust 84.3% from the free throw line.
The Huskies have won three in a row over New Orleans following an
85-76 victory in the Big Easy to open the conference slate on December 6. UNO leads the all-time series with HCU 17-9.
Stacy Hollowell is in his second season on the Lakefront. The Privateers are now 11-14 on the season and in a three-way tie with Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and Nicholls in fourth place at 9-7 in conference action, having won five of their last seven in SLC play.
Coleton Benson, a 6'2 senior guard, paces the Privateers at 17.4 points and 39% from downtown, good for fifth in the league. Jakevion Buckley, a 6'2 senior guard now on his third stop in the league (Southeastern and Lamar) leads the Southland in assists (5.1) while also chipping in 14.7 points and five boards per. MJ Thomas, a 6'8 sophomore forward, averages 11.1 points and 7.9 boards.
HCU and Nicholls have met 40 times over the years, with the Colonels now holding a 26-14 lead in the all-time series, including a streak of 12 in a row. The two teams hooked up on December 17 in Thibodaux, with the
Huskies falling 79-64 in the final game before the Christmas break.
Tevon Saddler is in his third season at Nicholls. The Colonels come into the weekend at 10-15 overall but are in a three-way tie for fourth in the Southland at 9-7 with A&M-Corpus Christi and New Orleans. Nicholls hits San Antonio on Saturday for a tilt with Incarnate Word prior to heading to Sharp Gym on Monday.
The Colonels are led by Jalik Dunkley, a 6'7 sophomore forward averaging 15.4 points and 7.5 rebounds in SLC action. 6'8 grad guard Jaylen Searles is averaging 12.7 points, 4.4 boards and 2.1 assists while shooting 34% from the arc, and Sincere Malone, a 6'8 senior forward, chips in 11.6 points, 4.8 caroms and 3.4 helpers.
HCU is 9-4 all-time in games played on Valentine's Day. The Huskies last play on the date in 2018, a 77-70 victory over Northwestern State. The Huskies are 9-11 on February 16, last playing in 2023 in a 91-75 loss at Lamar. The last victory for the Huskies on this date was against Nicholls, 88-82 in 2019.
Following this two-game home swing against UNO and Nicholls, the Huskies will hit the road for the last road trip of the regular season with games at Northwestern State and East Texas A&M.
#DawgsUp
