The Houston Cougars and the East Carolina Pirates meet in college basketball action from the Minges Coliseum on Saturday night. Let’s dive into the odds, injuries, matchup history and make a prediction for this game.
Odds
Houston is listed as a 20.5-point road favorite with the total for this game set at 135.5 points.
Injuries
For Houston, Darius Bowser is out indefinitely with a personal issue and Ramon Walker Jr. is out for the season with a personal issue as well. For East Carolina, Javon Small is out indefinitely with a knee injury and Wynston Tabbs remains out indefinitely with a personal matter as well.
Matchup History
Houston’s 79-36 win back on January 22nd, 2022, made it 10 wins in the last 11 head-to-head meetings for the Cougars.
Trends
Houston is 1-6 ATS in their last 7 Saturday games and 5-0 ATS in their last 5 road games against a team with a home winning percentage above .600 while the over is 6-1 in their last 7 games against a team with a winning record. East Carolina is 4-0 ATS in their last 4 Saturday games and 1-4 ATS in their last 5 home games against a team with a winning road record while the over is 5-0 in their last 5 home games.
Pick
I’m siding with the over here. I wouldn’t be surprised with either result to be honest from a side perspective, if Houston won by 25-30, or if East Carolina snuck in the backdoor and lost by 16-18. Instead, I’m taking the over because I do think that Houston can get whatever they want offensively here and I do expect East Carolina to be able to chip in a little bit as well in this one so give me the over.