1945–46 Houston Cougars men's basketball team

The 1945–46 Houston Cougars men's basketball team represented the University of Houston in the college basketball 1945–46 season. It was their inaugural year of season play. The head coach for the Cougars was Alden Pasche, who was serving in his 1st year in that position. The team played its home games at Jeppesen Gymnasium on-campus in Houston and were members of the Lone Star Conference. Houston captured its first conference regular season title, and competed in the postseason in the 1946 NAIA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament where they were defeated by eventual national runner-up Indiana State in the second round.^[1]^[2]

Roster

Charlie Manichia also served as Houston's first starting quarterback. Guy Lewis would later serve as an assistant for Houston from 1953–1956, and as head coach from 1956–1986.

Players

Coaches

Pos.	#	Name	Height	Weight	Year	Hometown
	31	Charlie Manichia	5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)	170 lb (77 kg)	So	Houston, Texas
	31	Bill McPhail	—	—
	32	Bobby Dwyer	—	—
F	33	Charlie Carpenter	5 ft 11 in (1.8 m)	—	So
G	34	Simon Wiederman	5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)	—	Sr
	36	Bill Swanson	—	—
C	37	Guy Lewis (C)	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)	—	So	Arp, Texas
	38	Billy Graham	—	—
F	39	Willie Wells (C)	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)	—	Jr	Houston, Texas
F	40	Dick Pratt	—	—
G		Louis Brown	5 ft 11 in (1.8 m)	—	Fr

Head coach

Alden Pasche (Rice)

Assistant coach(es)

Ned Thompson (Stephen F. Austin)

Legend

(C) Team captain
(S) Suspended
(I) Ineligible
(W) Walk-on

Injured
Current redshirt

Roster
Last update: 2011-02-09

Schedule

Date time, TV	Opponent	Result	Record	Site city, state
Regular season
01/10/1946 no, no	North Texas State	W 62–35	1–0	Jeppesen Gymnasium Houston, Texas
01/17/1946 no, no	Sam Houston State	L 40–41	1–1	Jeppesen Gymnasium Houston, Texas
02/02/1946 no, no	Southwest Texas State	W 62–57	2–1	Jeppesen Gymnasium Houston, Texas
02/04/1946* no, no	at Southwestern	W 42–40	3–1	Unknown Georgetown, Texas
02/08/1946 no, no	at Sam Houston State	L 39–40	3–2	Unknown Huntsville, Texas
02/09/1946 no, no	at Stephen F. Austin	W 45–38	4–2	Shelton Gymnasium Nacogdoches, Texas
02/16/1946 no, no	East Texas State	W 54–51	5–2	Jeppesen Gymnasium Houston, Texas
02/19/1946 no, no	Southwestern	L 57–58	5–3	Jeppesen Gymnasium Houston, Texas
02/20/1946 no, no	at Southwest Texas State	W 62–55	6–3	Unknown San Marcos, Texas
02/23/1946 no, no	Stephen F. Austin	W 65–39	7–3	Jeppesen Gymnasium Houston, Texas
03/01/1946 no, no	at North Texas State	W 61–56	8–3	Unknown Denton, Texas
03/02/1946 no, no	at East Texas State	W 61–54	9–3	Whitley Gymnasium Commerce, Texas
NAIA Division I Tournament
03/11/1946* no, no	vs. High Point First Round	W 63–34	10–3	Municipal Auditorium Kansas City, Missouri
03/13/1946* no, no	vs. Indiana State Second Round	L 43–62	10–4	Municipal Auditorium Kansas City, Missouri
*Non-conference game. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses.

References

^ "Houston U. Enters Playoffs". Victoria Advocate. 1946-03-05. Retrieved 2011-02-09. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
^ "Post Season Tourneys on Sked". St. Petersburg Times. 1946-03-11. Retrieved 2011-02-09. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)

[1] "Houston U. Enters Playoffs". Victoria Advocate. 1946-03-05. Retrieved 2011-02-09. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)

[2] "Post Season Tourneys on Sked". St. Petersburg Times. 1946-03-11. Retrieved 2011-02-09. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)

[1]

[2]

v t e Houston Cougars men's basketball
Venues	Sam Houston Coliseum (select games; 1937–19??) Jeppesen Gymnasium (1946–1966) Delmar Fieldhouse (1966–1969) Fertitta Center (1969–present) Health and Physical Education Arena (2017–2018)
Rivalries	Rice SMU
Culture & lore	Shasta Phi Slama Jama Game of the Century "Cougar Fight Song" Spirit of Houston
People	Head coaches NBA players Statistical leaders
Seasons	List of seasons 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25
NCAA Final Four appearances in italics