Butler vs Houston Game Information

Butler vs Houston Preview

Butler (7-1, 0-0 on Road) heads to the Lone Star State to play No. 17 Houston (4-3, 3-0 at Home) in the Big 12-Big East battle from Houston on Saturday afternoon. The Bulldogs head in winners of 6 straight, knocking off Eastern Illinois (73-58), No. 25 Mississippi State (87-77), Northwestern (71-69), Merrimack (78-39), SMU (81-70), and Western Michigan 

(85-65) after losing their only game of the year vs Austin Peay (68-66). Highly regarded Houston has lost 2 of its last 3—both in Overtime—losing to San Diego State (73-70, OT) beating Notre Dame (65-54), and falling to Alabama (85-80, OT) after beating Hofstra (80-44), Louisiana (91-45). The last time these two met was here in Houston where the Cougars rolled to a 70-52 win, covering ATS by 8 points (HOU -10) in a game that went Under the low 124 Total by just 2 points.

Is Butler Catching Houston at the Wrong Time?

Butler (5-3-0 ATS, 3-5-0 O/U) made the 2024 NIT Tournament with an At Large bid after an 18-14 season and were ousted by Minnesota in the First Round (73-72), so this is a team hoping for better days and to get back in the Big Dance. But playing in the rough and tumble Big East Conference is never easy, so Head Coach Thad Matta will have to do the best with what he has to work with in Indianapolis. Heading in here, Butler averages 76.6 ppg (Tied-#177) while allowing 63.0 ppg, ranks No. 154 in Assists Per Game (14.8) and No. 66 in Rebounds Per Game (39.6). The Bulldogs leading scorers are F Jahmyl Telfort (17,9 ppg, 3.8 rpg, 3.0 apg), F Pierre Brooks II (14.5 ppg, 5.4 rpg), F Patrick McCaffrey (13.5 ppg, 4.6 rpg), G Finley Bijack (7.6 ppg, 4.0 rpg, 3.0 apg), C Andre Screen (7.3 ppg, 7.0 rpg), and G Kolby King (6.8 ppg, 5.0 rpg).

Butler Betting Trends

• Butler is 7-3 SU in its last 10 games overall, 6-0 SU the last 6
• The Bulldogs are 5-1 ATS in their last 6 games
• The Under is 7-3-0 in Butler’s last 10 games
• The Over is 2-0-0 in the Bulldogs last 2 Road dribbles
• Butler is 2-0 SU/ATS on the Road this season (Arizona Tip-Off, Tempe)

No. 17 Houston Looking to Right the Ship

Houston (3-4-0 ATS, 4-3-0 O/U) was ranked No. 4 in the preseason NCAA Basketball polls, but after suffering 3 losses, 2 of them in the last 3 games, the Cougars have fallen all the way down to No. 17 in those rankings. Houston (32-5 SU, 17-18-1 ATS in 2023-24) lost only 5 games all last year, but already have 3 setbacks. The Cougars saw team heartbeat Jamal Shead leave for the 2024 NBA Draft (Toronto Raptors), so LJ Cryer (14.6 ppg), Emmanuel Sharp (14.4 ppg, 3.1 rpg), J’Wan Roberts (9.3 ppg, 6.1 rpg), Milos Uzan (8.6 ppg, 3.4 rpg, 5.4 apg), Terrance Arceneaux (8.4 ppg), Mercy Miller (6.8 ppg), and Joseph Tugler (6.3 ppg, 6.1 rpg) are the players Houston will ride with as it looks to get back to the NCAA Tournament.

Houston Betting Trends

• Houston is 0-3 ATS its last 3 overall
• The Cougars have been Favorites in more than 10 straight games
• Houston was 17-18-2 ATS last season
• The Cougars are 30-6 in its L36 on the First Half Moneyline (+19.35 Units, 1% ROI)
• Houston has only played 2 games at the Fertitta Center this season (2-0 SU/ATS)

Butler vs Houston Prediction

Heading into play on Friday, the Big East (4-2) has done pretty well in the Big East-Big 12 Battle, winning the first 3 games (VIL, PROV, UCONN) before Iowa State beat Creighton on Wednesday. Creighton put the conference up 4-1 with a huge upset over No. 1 Kansas before Texas Tech knocked off lightweights DePaul at Home in Lubbock on Wednesday.  This will be the third Tournament or Challenge that Houston has participated in this season, and with a loss here the Cougars would find themselves at 4-4 and possibly near Panic Mode. These Butler vs Houston NCAAB picks will look to the Totals market and the Under with the last meeting so low-scoring, the Cougars nervous, and Butler playing 19 Unders in its last 32 games (+4.75 Units, 13% ROI) and the Side market where the number just seems way too high here for what should be a low-scoring game.

Kevin’s Picks: Butler +17.5, Butler-Houston Under 135.5