Houston vs Central Florida 2/17/22 College Basketball Picks, Predictions, Odds
Central Florida Knights (15-8) vs. Houston Cougars (20-4)
February 17, 2022 9:00 pm EDT
The Line: Houston Cougars -14 / Central Florida Knights +14; Over/Under: -136.5
(Get latest betting odds)
The UCF Knights and the Houston Cougars meet in college basketball action from the Fertitta Center on Thursday night.
The UCF Knights will look to build on a 76-67 win over Tulsa last time out. Darin Green Jr. leads the Knights in scoring with 13.7 PPG while Darius Perry has 11.3 PPG with 4 RPG and a team-high 4.6 APG to lead the Knights in assists. Brandon Mahan also has 10.8 PPG to cap off the trio of double-digit scorers for UCF. C.J. Walker has 8 PPG with 5.5 RPG and Cheikh Mbacke Diong also has 6 RPG to lead UCF on the boards this season. As a team, UCF is averaging 70.9 PPG on 43.3% shooting from the field, 35% from three and 72.5% from the foul line while allowing 67.5 PPG on 42.2% shooting from the field and 30.6% from three this season.
The Houston Cougars will look to rebound from back-to-back losses after a 69-59 loss to Memphis in their last game. Kyler Edwards leads the Cougars in scoring with 13.8 PPG as well as 5.7 RPG while Josh Carlton has 11.7 PPG with a team-high 6.3 RPG and Fabian White Jr. has 12 PPG with 6 RPG to cap off the group of double-digit scorers for Houston coming into this game. As a team, Houston is averaging 76.4 PPG on 47.1% shooting from the field, 35% from three and 65.7% from the foul line while allowing 58.3 PPG on 36.8% shooting from the field and 29.4% from three this season.
UCF is 1-4 ATS in their last 5 road games and 1-9 ATS in their last 10 games following an ATS win while the over is 5-1 in their last 6 road games against a team with a home winning percentage above .600. Houston is 38-12-1 ATS in their last 51 games following an ATS loss and 4-1 ATS in their last 5 games following a double-digit loss at home while the over is 8-3-1 in their last 12 games against a team with a winning record.
I get the case to be made for Houston here as the Cougars are in a bit of a slump and could use the win to get back on track. However, we’re at the point in the year when bubble teams or teams that aren’t even on the bubble need solid performances and resume-building wins to help their cause. I’m not sure the Knights get that win here, but I think they’re capable of keeping it within single digits here. Give me UCF and the points.
