UAB Blazers vs Houston Cougars Prediction, Picks and Game Preview - 03/18/2022

Game Time: 9:20 pm ET, Friday, March 18, 2022

Venue:  PPG Paints Arena, Pittsburgh, PA

Where to Watch:  TNT

DraftKings:  Point Spread:  UAB +8.5, Houston -8.5; Over/Under:  136 points

Bet365:  Point Spread:  UAB +8.5, Houston -8.5; Over/Under:  136.5 points

BetMGM:  Point Spread:  UAB +8.5, Houston -8.5; Over/Under:  136.5 points

 

UAB Blazers:  27-7 (2nd place, CUSA Group B)

Houston Cougars:  29-5 (1st place, AAC)

 

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UAB Blazers:  5-0 last 5

Houston Cougars:  4-1 last 5

 

 

 

UAB is coming into this game with a 27-7 record overall and they are 4-1 in their neutral site games this season where they will be in this game. They have won 8 of their last 9 games and are coming into this one on a 7 game winning streak. Their last loss was against the North Texas Mean Green while their last 5 wins came against the Southern Miss Golden Eagles, the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs, the Florida Atlantic Owls, the Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders, and LT again in their last game. Jordan Walker led the team in points in that game with 27 while Michael Ertel was next on the team with 15 points. Walker led the team in assists in that game with 4 while Trey Jemison led the team in rebounds with 8. They were 49% from the field, 46.7% from 3-point range, and 80.6% from the free throw line with their shooting in that game. Their offense is averaging 80.7 PPG and their defense is allowing their opponents to average 66.3 PPG against them. UAB has an ATS record of 18-13-1 this season and their O/U record is 21-10-1.

 

 

Houston is coming into this game with a 29-5 record overall and they are 6-1 in their neutral site games this season where they will be in this game. They have won 9 of their last 10 games and are coming into this one on a 3 game winning streak. Their last loss was against the Memphis Tigers while their 3 wins since then came against the Cincinnati Bearcats, the Tulane Green Wave, and Memphis again in their last game. Fabian White Jr. led the team in points in that game with 20 while Josh Carlton was next on the team with 18 points. Taze Moore led the team in assists in that game with 8 while Kyler Edwards led the team in rebounds with 11. They were 43.1% from the field, 33.3% from 3-point range, and 68.4% from the free throw line with their shots in that game. Their offense is averaging 75.8 PPG and their defense is allowing their opponents to average 58.9 PPG against them. Houston has an ATS record of 22-12 this season and their O/U record is 15-19.

 

Houston is coming into this game as an 8.5 point favorite with the current betting odds according to Draftkings Sportsbook. UAB has been playing well recently winning 7 straight games coming into this one but there have been a lot of closer games in that span and they have even just scraped by a few games with wins in OT or by just a few points. They are going up against a Houston side that has also been playing very well and is coming off a win in the finals of their AAC tourney. They slayed some demons in that game with a win over Memphis by close to 20 points and that was big for them since they had lost to Memphis in both games during the season. They won all of their games in the AAC tourney by double digits and they have won 9 of their last 10 games with almost all of those wins being by double digits, most of them even being by close to 20 points as well. They have been smashing teams in their conference all year and even when they went for the title in the tourney, they continued to roll over teams. UAB has played well recently but they play in a much weaker conference and they have been struggling in more games recently, just barely winning a few of their recent games. Houston is the stronger team and they will likely keep up their trend of beating teams a lot worse than them by double digits. Houston will cover the spread in this game.

 

UAB Houston Prediction:  Our NCAAB Pick for Friday, March 18, 2022 (9:20 pm ET start time) is Houston 79 UAB 61.

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UAB Blazers: 9-14 ATS in a postseason tournament game. 21-10 OVER in all games. 10-3 OVER after a game where they made 78% of their free throws or better.

Houston Cougars: 22-12 ATS in all games. 14-5 ATS in all neutral court games. 14-9 OVER in first round tournament games.

 

 

UAB Blazers:  J. LeBlanc Sr. (F) Out indefinitely - Knee injury.

Houston Cougars:  R. Walker Jr. (G) Ques Fri - Undisclosed injury. T. Mark (G) out for season - Shoulder injury. M. Sasser (G) out for season - Toe injury. K. Powell (C) out for season - Redshirt.

 

 

“We went to the Sweet 16 in 2004, Mo Finley hit a huge shot for us against Kentucky, I tease our guys all the time, y’all gotta do something in the tournament.” - Sidney Ball on the high hopes for UAB to make a deep run in the tourney this year.

 

 

"Just really proud of our team, we've had a tough year in some ways. To be able to win the regular season and then win the conference tournament, our kids said it in the locker room, they didn't want to leave any doubt they were the best team in the conference." - Kelvin Sampson on his team’s win against Memphis in the finals of the AAC tourney.

 

 

 

K. Buffen 

Q. Jackson 

T. Jemison 

T. Lovan 

J. Walker

 

J. Carlton 

Kyler Edwards 

T. Moore

J. Shead 

F. White

 

 

PPG: J. Walker (19.3)

APG: J. Walker (5)

Reb/G: T. Jemison (7.7)

 

PPG: M. Sasser (17.7)

APG: J. Shead (5.9)

Reb/G: J. Carlton (6.6)

 

Coaches:

UAB Blazers: Andy Kennedy (2nd season)

Houston Cougars: Kelvin Sampson (8th season)