Houston Cougars vs Arizona Wildcats Prediction, 3/24/2022 College Basketball Picks, Best Bets & Odds

Game: Houston Cougars vs Arizona Wildcats

Date: Thursday, March 24, 2022

Location: AT&T Center in San Antonio, TX

TV: TBS

Odds/Point Spread: Houston (+2)

The Arizona Wildcats (33-3) will try to defeat the Houston Cougars (31-5) at AT&T Center on Thursday. Arizona opens this matchup as 2-point favorites. The total is 146.

The Houston Cougars faced off with Illinois and took home the win by a score of 68-53 in their last contest. Houston walked away from the game having earned a 42.4% field goal percentage (25 out of 59) and made 6 of 22 3-point attempts. When they shot from the charity stripe, the Cougars made 12 of 17 shots for a percentage of 70.6%. With respect to pulling down boards, they collected a total of 38 with 15 of them being of the offensive sort. They also recorded 10 dimes for this contest in addition to forcing 15 turnovers and having 8 steals. In the matter of the defense, Houston allowed the other team to shoot 34.0% from the field on 17 out of 50 shooting. Illinois recorded 11 dimes and had 6 steals in this matchup. On top of that, Illinois had 27 boards (6 offensive, 21 defensive), but didn't notch a rejection. Illinois shot 81.3% from the free throw line by converting 13 of their 16 tries. They also made 6 of 25 shots from distance. When talking about fouls, the Cougars ended up finishing with 16 while Illinois accumulated 15 fouls.

Taze Moore is someone who was a factor in this game. He finished the game shooting 56.3% from the field and totaled 1 assist. He saw the court for 33 mins played and snagged 7 boards. He totaled 21 points on 9 out of 16 shooting.

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Houston will play this contest with a mark of 31-5 on the season. They turn it over 11.1 times per contest and as a squad are committing 17.2 personal fouls per contest. As a unit, Houston is collecting 39.1 boards per game and has accounted for 598 dimes on the campaign, which is 5th in the nation in terms of passing the ball. The Cougars are shooting 34.2% on three-point attempts (288 of 841) and 66.7% from the free throw line. They average 75.8 points per game (52nd in the country) on 46.9% from the floor.

When they are on the defensive end, the Cougars are able to force 14.4 turnovers per contest and they draw 16.9 personal fouls. They concede 28.8% on 3-point attempts while they are 4th in college basketball in PPG allowed (59.0). The Cougars defensively are giving up a shooting percentage of 37.5% (711 of 1,897) and they surrender 31.8 boards per game as a group. They are ranked 147th in the nation in giving up assists to the opposition with 393 conceded on the season.

When they last stepped on the court, the Arizona Wildcats got the victory with a final of 85-80 against TCU. Concerning rebounds, Arizona allowed TCU to pull down 43 in total (18 on the offensive glass). They finished 23.1% from behind the 3-point line by shooting 6 out of 26 and ended up going 22 of 30 from the free throw line (73.3%). The Wildcats permitted TCU to bury 26 of 74 tries from the floor which had them sitting at 35.1% for this contest. When the final whistle was blown, the Wildcats shot 31 for 68 from the floor which had them shooting 45.6%. In regard to 3-pointers, Arizona made 5 of 27 attempts (18.5%). They were able to make 18 of those for a clip of 72.0%. TCU was called for 22 fouls in this contest which got the Wildcats to the charity stripe for a total of 25 tries. They coughed up the ball 16 times, while earning 10 steals in this contest. The Wildcats were able to collect 28 defensive rebounds and 14 offensive rebounds totaling 42 for this game.

Christian Koloko pitched in for the Wildcats in this matchup. He made 12 out of 13 for this game giving him a rate of 92.3%, and added 12 rebounds. He recorded 28 points in his 40 mins of playing time and totaled 2 dimes in this game.

Arizona has a win-loss record of 33-3 on the year. The Wildcats are committing 16.6 fouls every game and they hit 73.9% from the charity stripe. Their rate of dishing out assists is at 19.8 times per contest (1st in the nation) and they are turning it over 13.4 times per contest. Arizona has scored 3,047 points this season (84.6 per contest) and they snag 41.6 boards per game. As an offense, the Wildcats are shooting 49.6% from the floor, which ranks them 3rd in college basketball.

The Wildcats are ranked 140th in D-1 in points per game surrendered with 67.9. They are forcing 12.8 turnovers per game and allow teams to shoot 38.5% from the field (9th in the country). The Arizona defense surrenders 32.5% on shots from beyond the arc (264 of 813) and their opponents are knocking down 67.4% of their shots from the charity stripe. They have given up 11.8 assists and 33.7 total rebounds per game, ranking them 111th and 134th in college hoops.

Who will win tonight's NCAA basketball game against the spread?

Tony Sink's Pick: Take Arizona (-2)

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