Arizona is seeking to return to the Elite Eight for the first time since 2015, but standing in the way is No. 5 seed Houston. The Wildcats came away with an overtime win over TCU on Sunday while the Cougars defeated Illinois by 15 points to advance to Thursday night's matchup in San Antonio.

Here is a look ahead to the matchup between the top-seeded Wildcats and Houston set for a 6:59 p.m. MST tip off at AT&T Center.

Who: No. 1 Arizona (33-3; last game: 85-80 OT win over No. 9 TCU) vs. No. 5 Houston (31-5; last game: 68-53 win over No. 4 Houston)

When: 6:59 p.m. MST

Where: AT&T Center | San Antonio, Texas

TV: TBS

Last meeting: 96-90 Arizona win (Jan. 24, 2009)

Favorite: Arizona (-1 1/2), O/U: 145 1/2

Scoring offense: Arizona (3rd/84.6 PPG) | Oregon (52nd/75.8)

Scoring defense: Arizona (136th/67.9) | Oregon (3rd/59.0)

Rebounding margin: Arizona (7th/+7.9) | Oregon (12th/7.3)

Turnovers: Arizona (250th/13.4) | Oregon (50th/11.1)

Turnovers forced: Arizona (175th/12.78) | Oregon (62nd/14.3)

Assists per game: Arizona (1st/19.8) | Oregon (11th/16.6)

Arizona

• Bennedict Mathurin: Arizona's star guard turned in a star performance against TCU with 30 points, and he heads into Thursday's game with plenty of momentum. Mathurin is UA's leading scorer and has become a true catalyst for the team in the postseason.

• Christian Koloko: The Wildcats' starting center put together one of the best games in his career at Arizona in Sunday's win over the Horned Frogs. Koloko dominated the paint and finished with 28 points in the victory.

Houston

• Kyler Edwards: The senior guard from Arlington, Texas is Houston's leading scorer entering Thursday's game. He put together another solid performance against Illinois as he scored 15 points, dished out four assists and grabbed six rebounds in the win. He hit four 3-pointers in the game against the Illini.

• Taze Moore: The 6-foot-5 wing was a star for Houston in the win over Illinois as he led the team with 21 points to go along with seven rebounds, two steals and a block. He has scored in double figures in seven of the last nine games for the Cougars.

Thursday's meeting will mark the 12th time Arizona and Houston have met up on the hardwood with the last meeting coming in 2009 back in Tucson. The two teams have never played one another in the NCAA Tournament making it a unique matchup for the two squads that have done battle numerous times over the years.

The Cougars had a much easier time reaching the Sweet 16 than Arizona as Houston made easy work of Illinois last weekend while the Wildcats had to go to overtime against ninth-seeded TCU to reach the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament.

Arizona has never lost an NCAA Tournament matchup to a No. 5 seed when it has been ranked as a top seed with the Wildcats holding a perfect 3-0 record entering Thursday's game against Houston.

However, the Cougars are no normal No. 5 seed. Houston won the American Athletic Conference and spent a big portion of the season ranked inside the top 15 of the Associated Press Top 25 poll.

Kelvin Sampson has also guided the program to three straight appearances in the Sweet 16 giving the Cougars an advantage when it comes to NCAA Tournament experience.

Houston is an opponent that UA head coach Tommy Lloyd and the Wildcats have plenty of respect for heading into Thursday's matchup.

"Obviously they're very well coached," he said. "I know that's a cliché coaches say before they play somebody, but that's absolutely true. They're well drilled. Coach Sampson is somebody I have a ton of respect for. I grew up in the Pacific Northwest. That's kind of where his coaching career got off to a great start there.

"I'm so impressed just with how players do what they're told to do. Just the effort they play with. They max out every effort area. They're well-drilled on offense. They know the shots they want to take. They know who's taking them, where they're coming from, and they obviously do an amazing job offensive bounding. And then defensively, the effort and energy they play with and attention to detail, it's almost unmatched."

Sampson has just as much respect for the top-seeded Wildcats, but that is especially apparent with his feelings toward UA's star guard. Mathurin lived up to his lofty expectations by stepping up when the team needed him most Sunday against TCU.

Guiding the Wildcats to the overtime win to reach the Sweet 16 certainly left an impression on the Houston head coach.

"He's the best guard we've seen," Sampson said. "That's not coach speak, that's the truth. I was in the NBA for six seasons, and he's an NBA guy. He's not going to go in and be a role player. He'll start. He's going to get drafted so high that they're going to start him.

"That will be good for his development. I mean, he's a first-day starter for an NBA team. He has everything you need. He can create a shot, tremendous defender. He's got next level acceleration, and he can really shoot. I was reading a quote that Coach Tommy Lloyd said that he's got the clutch gene. That's a great quote. He does. Those plays he made at the end of the TCU game -- some guys are afraid of those moments. It shows you what he's made out of. So he's a really impressive young man."

The winner of Thursday's game will get to stay in San Antonio for a couple more days to face the winner of a matchup between second-seeded Villanova and No. 11 seed Michigan on Saturday.

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