The 2016–17 Houston Cougars men's basketball team represented the University of Houston during the 2016–17 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Cougars were led by third-year head coach Kelvin Sampson and were members of the American Athletic Conference. The Cougars played their home games at Hofheinz Pavilion. They finished the season 21–11, 12–6 in AAC play to finish in third place. They lost to UConn in the quarterfinals of the AAC tournament. They received an at-large bid to the National Invitation Tournament as a No. 2 seed and lost in the first round to Akron.