Houston Cougars vs Baylor Bears Prediction, 3/8/2025 College Basketball Picks, Best Bets & Odds

Game: Houston Cougars vs Baylor Bears

Date: Saturday, March 8, 2025

Location: Foster Pavilion in Philadelphia, PA

TV: ESPN+

The Baylor Bears (18-12) welcome the Houston Cougars (26-4) at Foster Pavilion on Saturday.

The Houston Cougars took the court against Kansas and earned the victory with a final of 65-59 in their last game. In regard to personal fouls, the Cougars left the arena with 13 and Kansas racked up 15 personal fouls. They made 5 of their 12 shots from beyond the arc. Kansas finished the contest at 84.2% from the free throw line by knocking down 16 of 19 tries. In addition, Kansas pulled down 30 boards (4 offensive, 26 defensive), but didn't notch a block. Kansas doled out 12 assists and had 4 steals for this contest. When talking about defense, Houston allowed the other team to shoot 45.2% from the field on 19 out of 42 shooting. They also distributed 9 dimes for the game as well as forcing the other team into 20 turnovers and earning 16 steals. In terms of grabbing rebounds, they compiled 32 with 15 of them being on the offensive end. When they shot from the charity stripe, the Cougars converted 10 of 14 shots for a rate of 71.4%. Houston finished with a 35.3% field goal percentage (24 out of 68) and buried 7 of their 20 3-pointers.

LJ Cryer is someone who had an impact for the game. He ended up shooting 53.3% from the floor but wasn't able to get an assist. He played for 26 mins played and grabbed 3 boards. He was able to score 22 points on 8 of 15 shooting.

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Houston will enter this matchup with a win-loss record of 26-4 so far this year. They currently have an average of 74.5 pts per game (165th in college hoops) while connecting on 46.0% from the field. The Cougars are shooting 39.6% from downtown (239 of 603) and 73.9% from the charity stripe. As a team, Houston is snagging 36.4 boards per game and has 379 dimes this year, which ranks 265th in the nation in terms of passing the ball. They are turning it over 9.3 times per contest and as a team they are committing 16.4 fouls on a nightly basis.

Defensively, the Cougars are forcing 14.1 turnovers every game while drawing 15.8 fouls. They relinquish 31.6% on 3-point attempts and they are 1st in college in points per game allowed (58.0). The Cougars defense is giving up a FG percentage of 38.4% (580 of 1,510) and they surrender 31.1 boards per game as a team. They are 27th in college in giving up assists to their opponents with 326 surrendered for the year.

In their last game, the Baylor Bears walked away with a victory by a final of 61-58 when they played TCU. In relation to cleaning the glass, Baylor allowed TCU to collect 32 overall (17 offensive). They shot 28.6% from beyond the perimeter by going 6 out of 21 and finished the contest at 12 out of 18 at the free throw line (66.7%). The Bears permitted TCU to convert 20 out of 58 attempts from the floor which had them shooting 34.5% for this contest. When all was said and done, the Bears went 22 for 50 from the floor which had them sitting at 44.0%. In reference to 3-point shots, Baylor buried 6 out of 20 attempts (30.0%). They were able to convert 11 of the free throw attempts for a rate of 78.6%. TCU was called for 15 personal fouls in the game which got the Bears to the free throw line for a total of 14 attempts. They coughed up the ball 12 times, while getting 8 steals in the matchup. The Bears recorded 17 defensive rebounds and 9 offensive rebounds for a total of 26 in the game.

Norchad Omier ended up having an impact for the Bears for this contest. He scored 19 points in his 36 mins on the court and earned 2 assists in this contest. He knocked down 6 out of 8 in the matchup for a rate of 75.0%, and accounted for 12 rebounds.

Baylor has a record of 18-12 this season. The Bears are responsible for committing 16.4 fouls per contest and they connect on 74.2% from the charity stripe. They are dishing out assists 14.9 times per contest (100th in the country) and they cough up possession 11.5 times per game. Baylor has accounted for 2,318 pts so far this year (77.3 per contest) and they grab 35.8 rebounds per contest. As an offensive unit, the Bears are connecting on 45.1% from the field, which ranks 162nd in college.

The Bears are ranked 102nd in college in PPG given up with 69.5. They are forcing their opponents into 13.2 TO's every game and allow teams to shoot 43.7% from the field (179th in the nation). The Baylor defense allows 35.2% on three-point shots (235 of 668) and opponents are making 69.3% of their free throw attempts. They surrender 14.8 assists and 32.5 total boards per game, which is 307th and 67th in the nation.

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

Tony Sink's Pick: Take Houston

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