Houston vs Alabama Prediction College Basketball Picks 11/26/24

The Houston Cougars and the Alabama Crimson Tide meet Tuesday in college basketball action from the MGM Grand Garden Arena. We will look at this from a betting perspective and determine the best bets for this game. Here’s a Houston vs. Alabama prediction.

Houston Recap

The Houston Cougars come into this game looking to build on their 3-1 start after an 80-44 win over Hofstra last time out. Houston will face Notre Dame after this game.

Cougars Win Back-To-Back Games

Emanuel Sharp leads the Cougars in scoring with 11.8 PPG while L.J. Cryer has added 11.3 PPG with 2.3 APG. J’Wan Roberts has added 10.3 PPG with 5.5 RPG to cap off the trio of double-digit scorers for Houston up to this point in the year while Terrance Arcenaux has 9.5 PPG on the year. Milos Uzan has added 8.8 PPG with 4.5 RPG and a team-high 6.3 APG to lead Alabama in assists while Joseph Tugler’s added 8.5 PPG with 5.8 RPG to lead the Cougars on the glass up to this point in the year. As a team, Houston’s averaging 84.3 PPG on 48.2% shooting from the field, 48.8% from three, and 72.2% from the foul line this season.

Why the Houston Cougars will win

• Houston has won each of its last 17 games when playing with a rest disadvantage.
• Alabama has lost each of its last four games against the Big 12 Conference at neutral venues.

Alabama Recap

The Alabama Crimson Tide come into this game looking to build on a 100-87 win over Illinois last time out to climb to 4-1 on the year. Alabama will take on Rutgers and North Carolina following this one.

Crimson Tide Looking To Pick Up Signature Win

Grant Nelson leads the Tide in scoring with 14.2 PPG and 7.2 RPG while Mark Sears has 13.8 PPG with 3.2 APG. Latrell Whitesell Jr. has 12.8 PPG with 2.2 APG and Labaron Philon has 12.8 PPG with 4.2 RPG and a team-high 5.2 APG to lead the Tide in assists while capping off the group of double-digit scorers for Alabama up to this point in the year. Clifford Omoruyi also has 9 PPG with 7.4 RPG to lead the Tide on the glass up to this point in the season. As a team, Alabama is averaging 89.6 PPG on 49% shooting from the field, 30.8% from three, and 71.4% from the foul line this season.

Why the Alabama Crimson Tide will win

• Alabama has won eight of its last nine day games played at neutral venues.
• Houston has lost five of its last six games against AP-ranked opponents at a neutral venue.

Houston vs. Alabama Prediction

I’m with Houston here. I get the case to be made for Alabama catching points, but the Tide are back to not really shooting the three well under Nate Oats, and for how often the Tide shoot from the perimeter, that could be costly here against a Houston team that doesn’t give up many opportunities to begin with. The Cougars are efficient from the outside and I think the defense is going to be the difference for Houston in this game. Alabama also struggled in their neutral site games at times last season while Houston carried over their form from their play at home and I think it’s more of the same this time around. Give me Houston.