Texas Tech Red Raiders vs Houston Cougars Prediction, 2/1/2025 College Basketball Picks, Best Bets & Odds

Game: Texas Tech Red Raiders vs Houston Cougars

Date: Saturday, February 1, 2025

Location: Fertitta Center in Houston, TX

TV: ESPN+

The Houston Cougars (17-3) will go up against the Texas Tech Red Raiders (16-4) at Fertitta Center on Saturday.

The Texas Tech Red Raiders played TCU and earned the victory with a final of 71-57 in their last contest. Regarding fouls, the Red Raiders ended up walking away with 17 while TCU accumulated 20 fouls. They also knocked down 5 of their 18 tries from distance. TCU finished shooting 54.5% at the charity stripe by knocking down 12 of 22 attempts. On top of that, TCU snagged 26 boards (10 offensive, 16 defensive), but wrapped up the game with no rejections. TCU dished out 10 dimes and had 5 steals in this matchup. When it comes to defending, Texas Tech allowed 35.1% from the field on 20 of 57 shooting. They also distributed 16 dimes for the game while forcing the other team into 6 turnovers and earning 4 steals. When discussing grabbing boards, they collected a total of 31 with 7 of them being of the offensive sort. At the charity stripe, the Red Raiders buried 15 of 21 tries for a percentage of 71.4%. Texas Tech ended the game with a 46.9% FG percentage (23 of 49) and knocked down 10 out of their 31 3-point attempts.

JT Toppin is a guy who was a major contributor in this game. He accumulated 18 points on 6 of 9 shooting. He was on the court for 38 mins and also collected 14 boards. He shot 66.7% from the field and also distributed 3 dimes.

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Texas Tech steps onto the court with a record of 16-4 on the year. They currently have an average of 81.4 pts per game (39th in college) while hitting 49.0% from the field. The Red Raiders are hitting 38.0% on 3-pointers (186 of 489) and 76.6% from the charity stripe. As a team, Texas Tech is pulling down 37.1 rebounds per game and is sitting with 341 dimes for the campaign, which is 46th in the nation in terms of passing the rock. They are turning it over 10.8 times per game and as a unit are committing 15.6 fouls every game.

On the defensive end, the Red Raiders are forcing 12.9 turnovers per game while drawing 15.7 fouls. They currently rank 26th in college in giving up assists to their opponents with 217 relinquished on the campaign. The Red Raiders are giving up a field goal percentage of 41.1% (459 of 1,116) and they concede 30.5 boards per contest as a unit. They give up 31.5% on three-point shots while they are 26th in the nation in points per game allowed (64.7).

When they last played, the Houston Cougars walked away with a victory by a final of 63-49 when they played West Virginia. When talking about team rebounding, Houston permitted West Virginia to snag 17 overall (3 on the offensive side). They went 22.2% from behind the 3-point line by hitting 4 out of 18 and ended up shooting 5 of 11 from the charity stripe (45.5%). The Cougars allowed West Virginia to convert 20 of their 43 tries from the floor which gave them a rate of 46.5% for the contest. When the final whistle blew, the Cougars ended up going 25 for 52 from the floor which had them sitting at 48.1%. When talking about shooting from downtown, Houston buried 7 of their 18 attempts (38.9%). They were able to convert 6 of the free throw attempts for a clip of 100.0%. West Virginia was called for 11 fouls in the game which took the Cougars to the free throw line for 6 shots. They also gave up possession of the ball 13 times, while earning 5 steals in this contest. The Cougars were able to pull down 20 defensive boards and 11 offensive rebounds totaling 31 for the matchup.

LJ Cryer ended up being a major contributor for the Cougars in this matchup. He racked up 17 points in his 35 minutes on the court and accounted for 3 dimes for this game. He converted 6 out of 12 for the matchup for a rate of 50.0%, and earned 3 rebounds.

Houston has a record of 17-3 on the year. In terms of offensive execution, the Cougars are shooting 46.0% from the floor, which ranks them 124th in the nation. Houston has totaled 1,520 pts on the campaign (76.0 per contest) and they pull down 38.0 boards per game. They are dishing out assists 13.2 times per game (237th in Division 1) and they turn the ball over 9.0 times per contest. The Cougars commit 16.6 personal fouls per game and they shoot 72.7% from the free throw line.

The Houston defense allows 29.9% on shots from beyond the perimeter (132 of 442) and opponents are knocking down 66.5% of their foul shots. They have allowed 10.5 assists and 31.7 boards on a nightly basis, ranking them 21st and 41st in the country. The Cougars on the defensive end are ranked 1st in college hoops in PPG given up with 55.3. They have forced 14.7 TO's every game and have let teams shoot 36.4% from the floor (2nd in college hoops).

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

Josh Schonwald's Pick: Take Texas Tech

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