Houston Cougars vs Colorado Buffaloes Prediction, 2/8/2025 College Basketball Picks, Best Bets & Odds

Game: Houston Cougars vs Colorado Buffaloes

Date: Saturday, February 8, 2025

Location: CU Events Center in Boulder, CO

TV: ESPN+

The Colorado Buffaloes (9-13) will try to beat the Houston Cougars (18-4) at CU Events Center on Saturday.

The Houston Cougars faced off with Oklahoma State and went home with a win by a final score of 72-63 in their last game. Concerning fouls, the Cougars ended up finishing with 12 while Oklahoma State finished the game with 16 fouls. They made 7 out of their 19 tries from beyond the perimeter. Oklahoma State walked away from this one shooting 50.0% from the free throw line by making 6 of their 12 tries. In addition, Oklahoma State totaled 21 rebounds (4 offensive, 17 defensive), but wrapped up the game with no rejections. Oklahoma State recorded 14 dimes and had 6 steals in this contest. When talking about defense, Houston allowed the other team to shoot 51.0% from the floor on 25 of 49 shooting. They also recorded 16 assists for this contest as well as forcing the opposition into 11 turnovers and earning 6 steals. In relation to getting rebounds, they earned 34 with 16 of them being offensive. From the charity stripe, the Cougars converted 12 of 14 shots for a rate of 85.7%. Houston ended the game with a 41.9% FG percentage (26 of 62) and buried 8 out of their 21 three-point attempts.

LJ Cryer is one player who had an impact for the contest. He ended up shooting 40.0% from the field but had no assists when the time ran out. He was on the court for 39 mins and also totaled 3 boards. He finished with 18 points on 6 out of 15 shooting.

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Houston heads into this one with a win-loss mark of 18-4 this year. They turn the ball over 9.2 times per contest and as a unit they commit 16.7 personal fouls on a nightly basis. As a team, Houston is collecting 38.1 boards per game and has totaled 290 assists so far this year, which is 260th in the country in terms of passing the ball. The Cougars are connecting on 39.3% on shots from downtown (181 of 461) and 72.8% from the charity stripe. They currently have an average of 76.0 pts per contest (131st in the nation) while going 45.8% from the field.

On the defensive end, the Cougars are forcing their opponents into 14.5 turnovers every game while drawing 16.0 fouls. They are currently ranked 18th in college in allowing assists to the opposition with 233 surrendered for the year. The Cougars defensively are allowing a FG percentage of 37.4% (420 of 1,124) and they concede 31.5 rebounds per contest as a team. They relinquish 30.8% on 3-pointers and they are 1st in college hoops in points per game from their opponents (56.9).

In their last game, the Colorado Buffaloes took a loss by a final score of 72-59 when they played Utah. The Buffaloes corralled 20 defensive boards and 6 offensive boards totaling 26 for the contest. They also coughed up the ball 15 times, while recording 7 steals in this contest. Utah was called for 17 fouls in this contest which got the Buffaloes to the free throw line for a total of 13 shots. They were able to make 10 of those for a percentage of 76.9%. Pertaining to 3-pointers, Colorado buried 7 of their 27 tries (25.9%). Overall, the Buffaloes went 21 for 55 from the field which gave them a rate of 38.2%. The Buffaloes permitted Utah to knock down 23 out of their 47 tries from the field which left them with a rate of 48.9% for the game. They finished 44.4% from 3-point land via 8 of 18 and ended up shooting 18 out of 35 from the free throw line (51.4%). In regard to rebounds, Colorado permitted Utah to grab 32 in total (10 on the offensive glass).

Javon Ruffin pitched in for the Buffaloes in this contest. He made 4 of 9 in the matchup giving him a field goal percentage of 44.4%, and accounted for 2 rebounds. He scored 13 points in his 27 minutes on the court and earned 3 dimes for this game.

Colorado has a win-loss record of 9-13 for the campaign. As an offense, the Buffaloes are connecting on 45.4% from the field, which is ranked 152nd in the nation. Colorado has scored 1,567 pts on the season (71.2 per contest) and they grab 34.7 boards per game. They are earning an assist 15.0 times per game (99th in college hoops) and they are giving up possession 15.1 times per contest. The Buffaloes are committing 16.4 fouls per contest while shooting 75.9% from the charity stripe.

The Buffaloes on defense are ranked 206th in college in points given up per game with 72.1. They are able to force 12.0 turnovers per game and allow teams to shoot 43.4% from the floor (175th in college hoops). The Colorado defense concedes 33.6% on 3-point attempts (174 of 518) and their opponents are making 71.6% of their free throw shots. They concede 12.8 dimes and 32.5 rebounds per game, which ranks them 159th and 77th in D-1.

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

Tony Sink's Pick: Take Houston

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