In the final game in the Midwest region, we have a fantastic Houston vs Tennessee matchup that sees two of the best defenses in the country go head-to-head. Houston is looking for their second Final Four appearance since 1984 while Tennessee is looking for their first in school history.
Below, we will preview this Elite Eight college basketball game, giving the Florida vs Texas Tech overview, trends and our expert pick! Which school will win and keep their hopes of winning the championship trophy alive?
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Houston vs Tennessee Prediction and Elite Eight Expert Picks
2025 NCAA Tournament
No. 1 Houston Cougars (33-4) vs. No. 3 Tennessee Volunteers (30-7)
Date: Sunday, March 30, 2025
Time: 2:20 PM EST
Venue: Lucas Oil Stadium — Indianapolis, IN
Coverage: CBS
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Houston vs Tennessee Elite Eight Odds
All college basketball betting odds for Houston vs Tennessee can be found at BetUS Sportsbook.
Moneyline: HOU: (-162) | TENN: (+136)
Point Spread: HOU: -3.5 (-102) | TENN: +3.5 (-118)
Total: 123.5 — Over: (-108) | Under: (-112)
KenPom Rankings | Bracketology
KenPom Rankings are from KenPom.com
| Team | Rk | AdjO | AdjD | AdjT |
| Houston | 3 | 123.4 (12) | 88.0 (1) | 61.6 (360) |
| Tennessee | 5 | 121.2 (17) | 89.3 (3) | 63.7 (349) |
Houston vs Tennessee College Basketball Trends
- Houston is 5-0 in its last five games.
- Tennessee is 4-1 in its last five games.
- Houston is 14-3 in non-conference play this season.
- Tennessee is 18-1 in non-conference play this season.
- Houston has lost just once (82-82 OT loss to Texas Tech) since the beginning of December 2024.
- Tennessee has held opponents to just 42% shooting from the field in the NCAA Tournament.
Houston vs Tennessee Prediction | Elite Eight Expert Picks
While it hasn’t been completely smooth sailing for Houston to get to this point, they were done no favors with the bracket. The Cougars had to play a top-10 KenPom team in the Gonzaga Bulldogs in the second round before essentially playing a top-15 KenPom team in the Purdue Boilermakers on the road, about an hour away from their campus.
For as difficult as those two games were, the Cougars showed their resilience and strength in numbers. Against Gonzaga, LJ Cryer and J’Wan Roberts combined for 48 points. Against Purdue, with Cryer and Roberts shooting just 4/18 (22%) from the field, Milos Uzan dropped 22 points while hitting a career-high six three-pointers and the game-winning layup with under two seconds left.
This Houston team is as tough and resilient as they come and head coach Kelvin Sampson is one of the greatest minds in college basketball right now at any level. With a great team mentality and as a fundamentally sound team, the sky is the limit for Houston if they can get a full team effort.
Since losing to the Florida Gators in the SEC Tournament championship game, Tennessee has dispatched every team put in front of them. They beat Wofford and UCLA pretty easily before completely dismantling the Kentucky Wildcats in the Sweet 16. After losing to Kentucky twice in the regular season, they put the clamps on the Wildcats, taking a 15-point lead into halftime.
While Kentucky came alive in the second half offensively, Tennessee’s offense was just too much to overcome. After allowing Kentucky to shoot 50% three-point range in both regular season meetings, they held them to just six makes from deep for the entire game.
Tennessee’s strength has always been their defense much like Houston. Both teams have been well tested but it’s the Volunteers who have looked like the more complete team as of late. This game will certainly come down to the final few possessions. It’s hard to bet against Tennessee with Houston yet to show a complete team performance against quality competition in this tournament.
For our Houston vs Tennessee prediction, we are picking the Tennessee Volunteers to win and move on in the NCAA Tournament.
