Idaho secures 15 seed, will play No. 2 Houston in March Madness first round

MOSCOW, Idaho – For the first time since 1990, Idaho men’s basketball is going dancing.

In front of a crowd of the black and gold faithful, the Vandals were announced as the No. 15 seed in the south region, and will travel to Oklahoma City to face No. 2 seed Houston on March 19.

The Vandals and Cougars have met just once in each program’s history, back in the 1963-64 All-College Tournament, which also happened to take place in OKC.

UI hung tough with UH in the neutral site competition before the Houston took the win. Houston would also take on a fellow Big Sky competitor Montana State in the same tournament.

Houston earned the No. 2 seed in the South bracket with a 28-6 record that featured a 14-4 record in Big 12 play. The team finished as the conference runner-up with a narrow loss to Arizona, who claimed the top seed in the same South section.

The Vandals and Coogs shared a common opponent this year in the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, whom UH knocked off in the Players Era Championship in Las Vegas, 66-56.

Thursday will mark UI’s first appearance in the Big Dance since earning a 13-seed in the 1990 NCAA Tournament, where the Vandals faced Louisville in Salt Lake City, losing 59-78.

Idaho notably made the Sweet Sixteen in 1982 after beating the sixth-seeded Iowa Hawkeyes by two in the Round of 32 at Beasley Colisium in Pullman. The 2026 edition of March Madness will be the Vandals’ fifth appearance in the event, with the first coming in 1981.