Tournament Picks: Houston vs Rutgers 3/21/21 College Basketball Picks, Odds, Predictions

The Rutgers Scarlet Knights battle the Houston Cougars in a NCAA tournament second round matchup in March Madness college basketball action on Sunday.

The Houston Cougars booked their spot in the second round after a comfortable 87-56 win over Cleveland State last time out. Quentin Grimes led the way for the Cougars in scoring with 18 points on 6 of 13 shooting with 4 threes and a team-high 4 assists while Tramon Mark added 15 points on 5 of 10 shooting with 3 steals. Marcus Sasser had 14 points with 3 threes and 3 assists and Fabian White Jr. had 12 points on a perfect 4 of 4 shooting with 5 rebounds. Justin Gorham and Brison Gresham each had 10 points to make up the group of double-digit scorers for Houston in the win with each logging 4 rebounds while Gresham had a pair of blocks as well. Reggie Chaney also had 6 points with a team-high 7 rebounds and 4 blocks as well in the winning effort.

The Rutgers Scarlet Knights will look to build on their 60-56 win over Clemson in their last matchup. Geo Baker, Jacob Young and Caleb McConnell each had 13 points with Baker shooting 5 of 11 with 3 assists while Young went 5 of 7 with 3 threes and McConnell added a team-high 10 rebounds and 3 assists for the double-double. Paul Mulcahy added 8 points with a team-high 4 assists while Myles Johnson had 10 rebounds as well with 3 steals and 3 blocks in the victory for the Scarlet Knights.

Rutgers is 3-1-1 ATS in their last 5 Sunday games while the under is 5-2 in their last 7 games as an underdog. Houston is 16-5 in their last 21 neutral site games and 8-1 ATS in their last 9 neutral site games as a favorite while the over is 6-2 in their last 8 games overall.

I get the case that could be made for either side, but what I think ends up happening here is a fairly high-scoring game that gets closer to 140 than the current total of 132. I just think this is a game that’s played in the mid- to high-60s, so give me the over as my free play for this game. My stronger play is on the side and I have that available as a premium pick that you can find here.