Houston vs SIU-Edwardsville Prediction 3/20/25 College Basketball Picks Today

The SIU-Edwardsville Cougars and the Houston Cougars meet Thursday in college basketball action from the INTRUST Bank Arena. We will look at this from a betting perspective and determine the best bets for this game. Here’s a Houston vs SIU-Edwardsville Prediction.

SIU-Edwardsville Recap

The SIU-Edwardsville Cougars come into the NCAA tournament as the OVC conference tournament champion, finishing the year with an overall record of 22-11 including a 13-7 mark in OVC conference play. As the 2-seed, SIUE knocked out Tennessee State before routing Southeast Missouri State in the title game to punch their ticket to the Big Dance

SIU-Edwardsville Making NCAA Tournament Debut

Ray’Sean Taylor leads the Cougars in scoring and assists with 19.3 PPG, 4.5 RPG, and 3.8 APG while Brian Taylor II has 12 PPG, 4.1 RPG, and 2.9 APG this season. Ring Malith has 11.5 PPG with a team-high 7.2 RPG to lead the Cougars on the glass and cap off the trio of double-digit scorers for SIUE so far this season. Desmond Polk also has 6.2 PPG with 3.3 RPG as well on the year. As a team, SIU-Edwardsville is averaging 72.6 PPG on 43.4% shooting from the field, 34.1% from behind the arc, and 67.6% from the foul line this season.

Why the SIU Edwardsville Cougars will win

• SIU Edwardsville has won each of its last five games against non-conference opponents at neutral venues.
• Houston has lost four of its last five games against non-conference opponents at neutral venues.

Houston Recap

The Houston Cougars come into this game as the Big 12 conference tournament champions, posting a record of 30-4 on the year including a 19-1 mark in Big 12 conference play. As the 1-seed and regular season champion, Houston knocked off Colorado, BYU, and Arizona to hoist the Big 12 tournament title.

Houston Making 7^th Straight NCAA Tournament Appearance

L.J. Cryer leads the Cougars in scoring with 15.2 PPG while Emanuel Sharp has 12.6 PPG with 3.1 RPG. J’Wan Roberts has 10.8 PPG with a team-high 6.3 RPG to lead the Cougars on the glass up to this point in the year. Milos Uzan has added 11.5 PPG with 3 RPG and a team-high 4.3 APG to lead Houston in assists, rounding out the group of double-digit scorers for Houston so far this season. Terrance Arceneaux has 7.1 PPG with 2.9 RPG and Joseph Tugler added 5.6 PPG and 5.7 RPG. As a team, Houston’s averaging 74.2 PPG on 45.8% shooting from the field, 39.8% from three, and 74.1% from the foul line this season.

Why the Houston Cougars will win

• Houston has won each of its last 21 games against non-AP-ranked opponents.

Total Points Facts

• Each of SIU Edwardsville’s last 14 games against non-conference opponents has produced a total of 134+ points.
• Each of Houston’s last six day games against non-conference opponents have produced a total of 130+ points.

Houston vs SIU-Edwardsville Prediction

I’m with Houston here. The problem for SIUE is that even though this is a big number, the Cougars just have a tendency to blow out bad teams, whether it’s at home or on a neutral floor in a tournament setting. Houston just throttled a solid Longwood team by 40 in last year’s opening round, and I just don’t think that SIUE hangs around here. Houston has done far better against far better, and I think that SIUE is overmatched in this game, plain and simple. Look for a Houston beatdown in round one, so I’ll lay the points with Houston here.