Who’s Playing

West Virginia Mountaineers @ Houston Cougars

Current Records: West Virginia 12-3, Houston 12-3

How To Watch

What to Know

If the oddsmakers’ predictions hold true, the near future looks bright for Houston. They and the West Virginia Mountaineers will face off in a Big 12 battle at 8:00 p.m. ET on Wednesday at Fertitta Center. The Cougars will be looking to keep their 26-game home win streak dating back to last season alive.

Last Saturday, Houston humbled Kansas State with an 87-57 smackdown. The Cougars have made a habit of sweeping their opponents off the court, having now won ten contests by 19 points or more this season.

Multiple players turned in solid performances to lead Houston to victory, but perhaps none more so than Emanuel Sharp, who went 5 for 8 en route to 15 points plus three steals. The team also got some help courtesy of Joseph Tugler, who dropped a double-double on 13 points and ten rebounds.

Houston smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 16 offensive rebounds. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they’ve now pulled down at least 11 offensive rebounds in three consecutive matchups.

West Virginia’s season wasn’t pretty last year but it’s starting to look like struggles are in the rearview. They came out on top against Colorado by a score of 78-70 on Sunday.

West Virginia’s success was the result of a balanced attack that saw several players step up, but Javon Small led the charge by posting 26 points in addition to seven assists. Small had some trouble finding his footing against Arizona last Tuesday, so this was a nice turnaround. Another player making a difference was Eduardo Andre, who made all 5 shots he took racking up 12 points plus four steals.

Houston is on a roll lately: they’ve won nine of their last ten games, which provided a nice bump to their 12-3 record this season. As for West Virginia, their victory bumped their record up to an identical 12-3.

Keep an eye on the arc in Wednesday’s match: Houston has made nailing deep shots look easy this year this season, having averaged 8.9 threes per game. However, it’s not like West Virginia struggles in that department as they’ve been averaging 9.8. Given these competing strengths, it’ll be interesting to see how their clash plays out.

Everything came up roses for Houston against West Virginia in their previous matchup back in January of 2024, as the team secured an 89-55 win. In that contest, Houston amassed a halftime lead of 48-22, an impressive feat they’ll look to repeat on Wednesday.

Odds

Houston is a big 17.5-point favorite against West Virginia, according to the latest college basketball odds.

The line on this game has moved quite a bit since it opened, as it started out with the Cougars as a 14.5-point favorite.

The over/under is 124 points.

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Series History

Houston won the only game these two teams have played in the last year.

• Jan 06, 2024 – Houston 89 vs. West Virginia 55