HOUSTON — When the University of Houston Cougars take the court Friday against Miami, Jim Nantz will be calling the game. You may not know this, but Nantz played on the UH golf team and he’s a former part-time employee at KHOU 11.
Recently, KHOU 11’s Matt Musil visited with Nantz to talk about this year’s Cougars basketball team and what comes next now that Nantz is stepping away from calling games.
Nantz is the lead play-by-play announcer for CBS Sports.
“I mean, I watch all the games,” he said. “If I missed them live, I find a way to get the broadcast back, I watch every minute of the football and basketball games.”
But he does have a favorite.
“I love this team. I’m so fired up about the Cougars being back on top of the basketball landscape. We’re a basketball school. By the way, I can say ‘we’ with you, not on national television, but this is our community. This is my alma mater. I was living in the dorms at the University of Houston and the basketball program was embarking on three straight Final Fours,” Nantz said. “The Phi Slama Jama days and here we are back again, not only relevant, but the team to beat. It's sweet.”
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Nantz called the Coogs' Final Four appearance in 2021 and he was on the headset for Houston’s last-second win over Memphis this season.
“The last few years, you could see what Kelvin (Sampson) has built; a Sweet 16 team, a Final Four team in ’21, a final eight team last year. It’s a really good team,” Nantz said. “On a Monday, April 3, if all things go right, you gotta dream it. It could happen.”
Nantz, is giving up his college basketball duties after this season to spend more time with his family. He believes the Sampson family's efforts on Cullen Boulevard have been a huge part of the program's resurgence.
“I just think we've got an amazing coach, who has built the program,” Nantz said. “I just like the vibe. We're doing things the right way and this team is poised to do something special.”
The Coogs are two wins away from playing at NRG Stadium in the first week of April, so there's still plenty of work to be done, but as for Nantz, a proud UH alum, when he's not calling NCAA games for CBS Sports, there's no hiding his excitement about coming back to H-Town.
“Houston, I gotta tell you, Houston. I love Houston,” he said.
Live on KHOU 11 Friday
Nantz will be busy on Friday, calling two big Sweet 16 games. First, at 6:15 p.m., it's the University of Houston against Miami. Then 30 minutes after that game ends, it's Texas vs. Xavier.
Watching the games with an antenna? KHOU 11 has upgraded its technology and is broadcasting on both VHF and UHF. Tune in on either 11.1 or 11.11.