Saint Joseph’s vs Houston 11/11/22 College Basketball Picks, Predictions, Odds

The Houston Cougars and the Saint Joseph’s Hawks meet in college basketball action from the Alumni Hall on Friday.

The Houston Cougars will be out to build on their 83-36 rout of Northern Colorado in their season opener. Marcus Sasser led the Cougars with 21 points on 7 of 14 shooting with 4 threes and 4 steals while J’Wan Roberts added 12 points on 6 of 8 shooting with 6 rebounds and Emanuel Sharp added 11 points with 3 threes in 8 minutes off of the bench to cap off the scoring in double figures for the Cougars in the win. Jamal Shead added 9 points with a team-high 9 assists and 3 steals while Jarace Walker added a team-high 12 rebounds as well in the win for the Cougars.

The Saint Joseph’s Hawks will try to bounce back from a frustrating 2021-22 season, finishing the year at 11-19 overall, including a 5-13 mark in A-10 conference play. The Hawks’ stay in the conference tournament was short-lived, as they were bounced by La Salle in the first round of the A-10 tournament. The Hawks will have to replace a pair of double-digit scorers in Jordan Hall (14.1 PPG, 6.7 RPG, 5.8 APG) and Taylor Funk (13.2 PPG, 6.6 RPG) but do bring back a pair of double-digit scorers in Erik Reynolds (12.1 PPG) and Ejike Obinna (12.1 PPG, team-high 7.9 RPG) to at least cut their losses. Only time will tell if Saint Joseph’s can make the climb back into the upper half of the A-10, or if another season of obscurity is on the cards for the Hawks.

Houston is 6-0 ATS in their last 6 Friday games and 7-1 ATS in their last 8 games overall while the under is 4-1 in their last 5 neutral site games. Saint Joseph’s is 1-3-1 ATS in their last 5 Friday games and 3-1-1 ATS in their last 5 games against a team with a winning percentage above .600 while the under is 5-0 in their last 5 games overall.

I get the case to be made either way here, but I’m looking at the under. This could end up being a name your number spot for Houston, but the Cougars defense has been so elite that I’m not sure that Saint Joseph’s is going to be able to do enough to contribute to this total. I think this one’s all Houston, but I’ll back the under in this game to avoid any possibility of a backdoor cover.