Houston vs South Florida 1/11/23 College Basketball Picks, Predictions, Odds
South Florida Bulls (7-9) vs. Houston Cougars (16-1)
January 11, 2023 8:00 pm EDT
The Line: Houston Cougars -23.5 / South Florida Bulls +23.5 ; Over/Under: -
(Get latest betting odds)
The South Florida Bulls and the Houston Cougars meet Wednesday in college basketball action from Hofheinz Pavilion. South Florida is 7-9 overall this year. The Bulls lost to Wichita State in their last game on Sunday. As for Houston, they’re sitting at 16-1 overall and are fresh off a win over Cincinnati in their Sunday matchup. Check back all season long for free college basketball picks at Sports Chat Place.
South Florida posted a sketchy 4-6 run over their first 10 games, beating only Saint Joseph’s, St. Francis BK, Charleston Southern and Northern Iowa. The Bulls have since gone 3-3, taking losses to Memphis, Temple and Wichita State in their last three games.
Matched up against Wichita State on Sunday, the Bulls went into the break with a 34-28 edge. USF was outscored 42-32 in the second half and lost 70-66. Both Russel Tchewa (19 points; 10 rebounds) and Sam Hines (11 points; 10 rebounds) doubled up.
Over on the Houston side, they’ve got just the one loss so far to Alabama 71-65 on December 10. Since then the Cougars have taken out NC A&T, Virginia, McNeese State, Tulsa, UCF, SMU and Cincinnati in succession.
On Sunday versus the Bearcats, the Cougars came out of the break with a 35-28 edge. Houston posted another 37 points in the second half and rolled to a 72-59 win. Marcus Sasser led the way on 16 points and J’wan Roberts doubled with 14 points and 11 boards.
PICK: I’ll probably stay with Houston in this one. Also probably not touching it, though; it’s a pretty thick line. That said, Houston is on a nice run since their loss last month. The Cougars have hit 69 or more points in each of the seven games since then. Houston is scoring better than they did early in the year, which is a promising sign for chemistry. On paper at least, the Cougars aren’t likely to lose another game for the rest of the season. As for South Florida, they’ve shown some promise here and there this year but haven’t quite put everything together just yet. The Bulls will certainly have an uphill battle in this one. I don’t think they’ll quite keep the cover pace.
