Houston Cougars vs Cincinnati Bearcats Prediction, 1/8/2023 College Basketball Picks, Best Bets & Odds

Game: Houston Cougars vs Cincinnati Bearcats

Date: Sunday, January 8, 2023

Location: Fifth Third Arena in Cincinnati, OH

TV: ESPN

The Cincinnati Bearcats (11-5) are hosting the Houston Cougars (15-1) at Fifth Third Arena on Sunday.

The Houston Cougars faced off with SMU and earned the victory with a final of 87-53 in their last contest. Houston finished with a 45.6% FG percentage (31 out of 68) and made 10 of their 30 3-point attempts. From the free throw line, the Cougars converted 15 of their 19 attempts for a percentage of 78.9%. When it comes to hauling in boards, they earned 52 with 20 of them being of the offensive sort. They also dished out 17 dimes for this contest while forcing the opposition into 11 turnovers and getting 6 steals. When it comes to defense, Houston allowed 30.6% from the floor on 15 of 49 shooting. SMU recorded 8 dimes and had 5 steals for this contest. On top of that, SMU grabbed 20 boards (5 offensive, 15 defensive), but wasn't able to record a rejection. SMU finished the game shooting 71.4% from the charity stripe by converting 20 of their 28 tries. They also converted 3 out of their 20 shots from distance. Concerning fouls, the Cougars ended up finishing with 22 while SMU had 18 fouls.

Jarace Walker is someone who had an impact in the game. He notched 23 points on 10 out of 16 shooting. He saw the court for 25 mins and totaled 10 rebounds. He went 62.5% from the floor and also distributed 3 assists.

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Houston heads into this game with a win-loss record of 15-1 for the year. They have an average of 75.8 points per contest (110th in the country) while connecting on 47.0% from the field. The Cougars are shooting 34.2% on 3-pointers (119 of 348) and 71.7% from the free throw line. As a unit, Houston is pulling down 40.8 boards per contest and has accumulated 236 assists so far this year, which has them ranked 68th in the country in terms of passing the ball. They lose possession by turning the ball over 10.3 times per game and as a basketball team they are committing 15.3 fouls per contest.

On the defensive end, the Cougars have forced 15.3 turnovers per game while drawing 16.0 personal fouls. They are ranked 18th in college basketball in allowing assists to the opposition with 139 relinquished for the season. The Cougars defense is allowing a shooting percentage of 33.1% (273 of 825) and they concede 31.4 rebounds per game as a group. They are relinquishing 23.2% on three-point shots and they are 1st in the nation in PPG allowed (51.0).

When they last stepped on the court, the Cincinnati Bearcats went home victorious with a score of 70-61 when they played Wichita State. When discussing attacking the glass, Cincinnati permitted Wichita State to snag 32 in total (13 offensive). They went 27.3% from 3-point land via 6 of 22 and finished the game at 11 out of 17 at the charity stripe (64.7%). The Bearcats allowed Wichita State to bury 22 of their 67 attempts from the floor which gave them a rate of 32.8% for this game. When the final whistle blew, the Bearcats ended up going 27 out of 66 from the floor which had them shooting 40.9%. When it comes to shots from distance, Cincinnati converted 13 out of 29 attempts (44.8%). They were able to bury 3 of the free throw tries for a rate of 100.0%. Wichita State was called for 7 fouls for the game which got the Bearcats to the charity stripe for a total of 3 attempts. They also turned the ball over 13 times, while getting 1 steal for the game. The Bearcats corralled 33 defensive rebounds and 10 offensive rebounds totaling 43 in the game.

Jeremiah Davenport ended up being important for the Bearcats for the matchup. He totaled 22 points in his 30 minutes on the hardwood, but didn't record an assist. He made 8 out of 12 for this contest giving him a field goal percentage of 66.7%, and accounted for 3 rebounds.

Cincinnati has a record of 11-5 this season. As an offense, the Bearcats are hitting on 46.1% from the floor, which has them ranked 100th in the country. Cincinnati has tallied 1,264 pts on the year (79.0 per game) and they snag 37.1 boards per game. Their rate of assisting teammates is at 15.5 times per game (58th in college basketball) and they turn the ball over 10.8 times per game. The Bearcats are responsible for committing 15.5 personal fouls per game and they hit 69.2% from the charity stripe.

The Cincinnati defense allows 32.2% on shots from distance (102 of 317) and their opposition makes 75.6% of their free throw attempts. They have surrendered 12.9 dimes and 34.1 rebounds per contest, which is 205th and 181st in Division 1. The Bearcats on defense are ranked 183rd in college basketball in PPG surrendered with 68.7. They are forcing their opponents into 13.4 turnovers per game and have let teams shoot 41.9% from the floor (136th in D-1).

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

Josh Schonwald's Pick: Take Houston

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