Cougars vs Wildcats Odds & Picks: Houston Emerges As Tournament Favorite

The fifth-seeded Houston Cougars (32-5 SU, 25-12 ATS) have been one of college basketball’s most underrated teams, and they can make their second consecutive Final Four with a win Saturday over the second-seeded Villanova Wildcats (29-7, 19-15-2) in the South Region final. The Cougars vs Wildcats prediction likes the lower seed to make its seventh Final Four overall and cover ,while the underdogs are seeking their third appearance in six seasons.

Cougars vs Wildcats Odds & Analysis

Sportsbook Odds

If you did not believe in Houston before the Sweet 16, you do now. After upsetting the top-seeded Arizona Wildcats as 1.5-point underdogs on Thursday, the Cougars are favored in this Elite Eight matchup despite being the No. 5 seed in the South Region. Houston needs only one more victory to equal the most in school history and led Arizona wire to wire en route to a 72-60 win.

On the other side, Villanova topped the 11th-seeded Michigan Wolverines 63-55 and covered as 4.5-point chalk in the other South Region Sweet 16 game to run its winning streak to eight straight, but the three-time national champions have had an easier path to get here.

The Cougars have moved to 2.5-point favorites in early betting action while the total has dropped down to 128.5 for what is expected to be a lower-scoring defensive battle between two teams that like to play slow.

Get the best Cougars vs Wildcats odds and lines available from our recommended sportsbooks for your favorite picks of the night.

Defense The Difference Again As Houston Advances To Another Elite Eight

The Cougars have been awesome defensively in the Big Dance and just shut down their second higher-seeded opponent in a row. Houston held Arizona to 33.3 percent shooting (18-for-54) and limited leading scorer Bennedict Mathurin to only 15 points on 4-for-14, including 2-of-7 shooting from three-point range.

Mathurin was coming off a 30-point effort in his team’s 85-80 overtime victory against the ninth-seeded TCU Horned Frogs on Sunday, and the change of pace definitely baffled Arizona. This after the Cougars held the fourth-seeded Illinois Fighting Illini to 53 points on 34 percent shooting (17-for-50).

Villanova’s Shooters The Key To Success In Matchup vs Houston

The Wildcats are no strangers to low-scoring games, with five of their last six games overall going UNDER the total, along with six of nine in the NCAA Tournament. The big question is whether Villanova’s shooters can do enough vs Houston’s defense to pull out yet another win.

Leading scorer Collin Gillespie has shot progressively worse in the last three games, which is a big concern for the Wildcats because the Cougars have the size and athleticism to extend that trend to four.

Fortunately for Villanova, Jermaine Samuels and Justin Moore stepped up and combined for 37 points on 13-of-26 shooting in the win over Michigan. But for the Cougars vs Wildcats prediction to be wrong, Gillespie must bounce back.

Cougars vs Wildcats Pick & Insights

Cougars: Keys To Cover

Houston needs to dictate the tempo and force Villanova to shoot poorly. Even though the Wildcats can succeed while playing slow, they simply cannot afford to shoot below 40 percent again in this spot. Building off their last game, the Cougars have now allowed just one of their last 11 opponents to score more than 68 points and they lost that contest. They are also 10-1 ATS in those games, so that will be the goal again from a defensive perspective.

Wildcats: Keys To Cover

Gillespie is the key for Villanova, plain and simple. He has not made more than half his shots in a game since an 89-84 road victory against the Providence Friars back on February 15 when he scored a season-high 33 points. He has been dealing with an ankle injury since before then and battling through it for more than six weeks now. He is the heart and soul of this team, and if you are making your Cougars vs Wildcats pick on them, then you are counting on him to come through one more time to get to the Final Four.

Odds Shark’s Computer Cougars vs Wildcats Prediction: Cougars -2

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