East Carolina Pirates vs Houston Cougars Prediction, 3/10/2023 College Basketball Picks, Best Bets & Odds

Game: East Carolina Pirates vs Houston Cougars

Date: Friday, March 10, 2023

Location: Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, TX

TV: ESPN2

Odds/Point Spread: East Carolina (+21)

Dickies Arena is where the Houston Cougars (29-2) will attempt to defeat the East Carolina Pirates (15-16) on Friday. Houston opens this game as 21-point favorites. The over/under comes in at 133.5.

The East Carolina Pirates played UCF and went home with a loss by a final score of 84-58 in their last contest. In regard to fouls, the Pirates ended up finishing with 14 and UCF finished the game with 17 fouls. They also made 9 out of their 26 tries from three-point range. UCF ended up shooting 85.0% from the charity stripe by knocking down 17 of 20 tries. On top of that, UCF collected 34 boards (8 offensive, 26 defensive), but didn't have a block. UCF doled out 15 assists and had 9 steals in the game. Concerning defense, East Carolina allowed 50.9% from the field on 29 of 57 shooting. They also doled out 4 assists in this contest as well as forcing 12 turnovers and having 7 steals. With regard to grabbing rebounds, they earned 23 with 6 of them being of the offensive sort. At the charity stripe, the Pirates buried 18 of their 26 tries for a rate of 69.2%. East Carolina wrapped up the game with a 36.2% FG percentage (17 of 47) and converted 6 of their 19 shots from distance.

Jaden Walker is a player who was important in this game. He ended up finishing with 11 points on 5 out of 10 shooting. He played for 37 minutes played and also collected 6 rebounds. He finished the game shooting 50.0% from the field and totaled 2 assists.

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East Carolina will play this game with a record of 15-16 this year. They currently have an average of 69.4 points per game (235th in D-1) while connecting on 40.7% from the field. The Pirates are shooting 31.8% on three-point shots (238 of 749) and 69.0% from the free throw line. As a team, East Carolina is pulling down 37.0 boards per contest and has totaled 408 dimes for the campaign, which ranks 196th in the nation in terms of passing the ball. They lose possession via turnover 13.2 times per game and as a squad they commit 17.9 fouls every game.

Defensively, the Pirates have forced 11.9 turnovers per game and they draw 17.8 fouls. They give up 33.0% on shots from downtown and they are 217th in D-1 in points per game allowed (71.3). The Pirates defensively are giving up a shooting percentage of 44.3% (792 of 1,788) and they surrender 34.7 boards per game as a group. They are ranked 145th in college basketball in allowing assists to the opposition with 389 surrendered for the campaign.

When they last stepped on the court, the Houston Cougars got the victory with a final of 67-65 when they played Memphis. When talking about how they rebounded, Houston allowed Memphis to collect 28 in total (8 on the offensive side). They wrapped up this game 33.3% from three-point range by shooting 6 of 18 and walked away from this one shooting 21 of 23 at the free throw line (91.3%). The Cougars allowed Memphis to make 19 out of 53 attempts from the field which gave them a percentage of 35.8% for the game. Overall, the Cougars finished shooting 25 for 54 from the field which gave them a shooting percentage of 46.3%. With respect to three-point attempts, Houston converted 10 of their 28 attempts (35.7%). They were able to bury 7 of those for a percentage of 58.3%. Memphis earned 16 fouls in this contest which got the Cougars to the charity stripe for 12 shots. They also turned it over 14 times, while recording 7 steals for the game. The Cougars corralled 19 defensive boards and 8 offensive boards totaling 27 for the game.

Tramon Mark ended up being a factor for the Cougars for this contest. He converted 6 of 10 for this contest giving him a rate of 60.0%, and accumulated 8 rebounds. He earned 16 points in his 35 minutes on the hardwood, but finished this game without an assist.

Houston has a record of 29-2 for the season. The Cougars have committed 16.3 fouls per game while shooting 72.2% from the charity stripe. They are earning an assist 15.0 times per game (56th in college basketball) and they are turning it over 9.9 times per game. Houston has scored 2,357 pts this year (76.0 per game) and they collect 38.5 rebounds per game. On the offensive side of the court, the Cougars are shooting 47.1% from the field, which ranks them 46th in the nation.

The Houston defense allows 28.0% on shots from behind the 3-point line (198 of 707) and their opponents are connecting on 70.0% of their shots from the charity stripe. They have relinquished 10.1 dimes and 31.0 boards per game, ranking them 15th and 26th in Division 1. The Cougars defensively are ranked 2nd in D-1 in PPG surrendered with 56.5. They have forced 14.5 TO's per game and have let teams shoot 36.5% from the floor (2nd in college hoops).

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

Guy Bruhn's Pick: Take Houston (-21)

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