In a First Round NCAA Tournament game, the No. 5 Houston Cougars will face off with the No. 12 UAB in the South Region. Let’s take a look at the top college basketball betting odds, picks, bracketology, betting trends and KenPom Rankings, then give our Houston vs UAB prediction for the game today.
Houston vs UAB | NCAA Tournament Bracketology
2022 NCAA Tournament
No. 5 Houston Cougars (26-5) vs. No. 12 UAB Blazers (24-7)
Date: Friday, March 18th, 2022
Time: 9:20 PM EST
Venue: Consol Energy Center – Pittsburgh, PA
Coverage: TNT
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Houston vs UAB College Basketball Betting Picks and Odds
All college basketball betting odds for Houston vs UAB can be found at BetUS Sportsbook.
Moneyline: HOU: (-400) | UAB: (+320)
Point Spread: HOU: -8.5 (-110) | UAB: +8.5 (-110)
Total: 134.5 — Over: (-110) | Under: (-110)
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Houston vs UAB | Bracketology
KenPom Rankings are from KenPom.com
| Team | Rk | AdjO | AdjD | AdjT |
| Houston | 4th | 117.3 (10th) | 90.9 (11th) | 63.8 (333rd) |
| UAB | 46th | 112.5 (28th) | 98.5 (89th) | 68.8 (81st) |
Houston vs UAB College Basketball Betting Trends
- Houston is 6-1 ATS at a neutral site.
- UAB is 4-1 ATS at a neutral site.
- Houston is 29-4 ATS as a favorite.
- UAB is 2-1 ATS as an underdog.
Houston vs UAB Prediction | March Madness Picks and Bracketology
Houston is the best five-seed in the NCAA Tournament, as they rank fourth overall in KenPom and comfortably won the AAC Tournament. If UAB wants any chance of winning the game, it’s going to have to be Jordan ‘Jelly’ Walker that carries the load. He is averaging 22.5 points per game and led the Blazers to a Conference USA Tournament championship.
But I don’t trust that the Blazers can do enough to hang with Houston, who should be motivated by their fifth seed ranking and are in nearly the top 10 in both offensive and defensive efficiency. In all likelihood, Houston will do a good job of keeping this game at their own slow pace. It can get out of hand if UAB gets to running up and down the floor, as they rank 81st in tempo compared to Houston’s 333rd ranking.
Houston’s defense and size should be too much for the Blazers to overcome, who probably should have lost to Middle Tennessee State in the C-USA Semifinals. I’ll back a motivated Houston team, that likely feels like they have something to prove, to come out strong in their first March Madness game and win this game by double digits.
Our college basketball betting Houston vs UAB prediction tonight will be HOUSTON COVERING THE SPREAD at BetUS.
For what it’s worth, the ESPN Matchup Predictor gives Houston an 86.5% chance to win.
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