Sam Houston State vs Florida International Prediction 2/6/25 College Basketball Picks

The Sam Houston State Bearkats and the Florida International Panthers meet Thursday in college basketball action from FIU Arena. Here’s a Sam Houston vs FIU prediction. We will look at this from a betting perspective and determine the best Sam Houston vs FIU pick. We will examine: 

The Sam Houston State Bearkats’ recent form and player performance

The Florida International Panthers’ recent form and player performance 

Recent betting trends and streaks involving the Sam Houston State Bearkats

Recent betting trends and streaks involving the Florida International Panthers

Recent betting trends in games played between Sam Houston and FIU

A summary that ties it all together and produces a favorable betting outcome for the Sam Houston vs FIU game

Sam Houston State Bearkats Betting Preview

The Bearkats have had quite the choppy year so far, and it’s led to a fairly ugly record. Sam Houston State went just 4-5 in their first nine outings, falling to Nevada, Baylor, App State, UNC Wilmington, and Indiana in that time. A 3-1 run ensued with a lone loss to Pitt among wins over Texas Southern, St. Thomas TX, and Dallas. Since then it’s been a 1-8 stretch for Sam Houston. The one win came versus Florida International; otherwise, it was losses to New Mexico State, UTEP, Liberty, Kennesaw State, Jacksonville State, Middle Tennessee, Western Kentucky, and LA Tech, giving the team an 8-14 run through 22 games so far this year. 

In the LA Tech matchup, the Bearkats came out of the break with a 32-30 deficit. Sam Houston fought back to force overtime but still ended up losing 66-61 in the end. Tops in scoring was Lamar Wilkerson with 17 points, five rebounds, three assists, and two steals. Both Cameron Huefner (three steals) and Marcus Boykin (eight rebounds; four assists) chipped in 12 points each. Dorian Finister led the bench scoring with six points and nine rebounds as well. 

Florida International Panthers Betting Preview

Over on the Panthers’ side, they put up a decent run in December but overall they’ve struggled as well. Florida International kicked things off with a 2-6 run featuring losses to Rice, Southern Utah, Howard, Northeastern, Florida Gulf Coast, and Florida Atlantic. A 5-2 stretch came next with wins over New College FL, Stetson, IUPUI, Utah Tech, and Western Kentucky among losses to East Carolina and Middle Tennessee. Since then it’s been all losses versus LA Tech, Sam Houston, New Mexico State, UTEP, Liberty, Jacksonville State, and Kennesaw State for a 7-15 overall record thus far for the Panthers. 

Matched up against Kennesaw State in their Saturday game, the Panthers exited the locker room holding a 35-29 deficit. Following a 38-38 run the rest of the way, FIU ended up falling 73-67. Jayden Brewer posted 22 points with seven rebounds and two steals off the bench. Both Vianney Salatchoum (five rebounds) and Ashton Williamson (five assists) notched 10 points each as well. 

Why the Florida International Panthers will win

• Sam Houston State has lost nine of its last 10 games against Conference opponents.

Why the Sam Houston State Bearkats will win

• Florida International has lost each of its last seven games against the Conference USA.
• Sam Houston State has won 10 of its last 11 night games after coming off overtime.

Sam Houston vs FIU Prediction 

I’ll take a stab at Florida International here. There’s not a lot to get excited about, but it should be a pretty competitive matchup. The Panthers couldn’t overcome a slow start against a decent Kennesaw State team in their last outing, despite shooting 50 percent from the field with a 33-31 rebounding edge. What really killed FIU in that one was the 2-of-10 from 3-point range—not to mention the 18 turnovers for 20 Owls points. Florida International has been within six points in each of their last two outings, but can’t seem to get over the hump for a win. 

The Panthers lost on the road 81-74 the last time these teams met up back on January 11. It was a pretty sloppy game overall (31 total turnovers) but FIU shot decently (43.3 percent) with a 40-37 rebounding advantage. That may be just enough to power it out in the home rematch.