Arizona vs. Houston Prediction, Betting Pick, Latest Odds for Big 12 Tournament Championship

The Houston Cougars and the Arizona Wildcats will battle it out tonight in the Big 12 Championship game in Kansas City.

When the Cougars and Wildcats faced off in Tucson back on February 15th, Houston eked out a 62-58 victory. It was a close game the entire way as no team every built a double digit lead. A few more notes from this meeting a month ago:

• Neither team could hit a 3-pointer (Houston 5-17, Arizona 5-23)
• Arizona kept Houston off the offensive glass (just six offensive rebounds for UH)
• Milos Uzan was fantastic (19 points, 5 assists, 0 turnovers)

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Arizona vs. Houston Odds

Arizona vs. Houston Date, Time, and Where To Watch

• Date: March 14, 2025
• Time: 6:00 pm ET
• Where To Watch: ESPN

Click here for latest Arizona vs. Houston Odds

Arizona vs. Houston Prediction

Both of these teams are playing really good ball right now. Houston just smoked a red hot BYU team by 20 without one of their best players in J’Wan Roberts. He’ll be out again tonight to ensure that he’ll be ready for the NCAA Tournament.

Arizona has looked great so far in KC as well with two big wins over Kansas and Texas Tech. Caleb Love turned in arguably his best performance of the year scoring an efficient 27 points. 

When Love is out in the open floor pushing pace, getting fouled, setting his teammates up, and  shooting from the perimeter at a reasonably high clip, the Wildcats are an elite basketball team. The question is, are we really expecting Love to bring his A-game against this tough Houston group?

Houston has been on an insane stretch, winning 25 of their last 26 games the one loss being by 1 point in overtime at Texas Tech. 

Kelvin Sampson’s guards have been unreal as of late. LJ Cryer/Emmanuel Sharp shooting the lights out, and Milos Uzan is running the show creating shots for his teammates while taking care of the basketball. The backcourt combined for 60 against BYU.

Without J’Wan, Houston lacks a big who can generate his own offense, putting even more pressure on the guards to create—which they’ve handled well so far. However, Arizona’s backcourt is big, strong, and athletic. I think they’ll be able to do a decent job defending these guys. A key area here is will Houston be able to take care of the ball and keep Arizona out of transition.

6.5 feels like a lot of points for Arizona to be getting here with Houston down a key contributor. I’m not confident enough in Houston’s offense minus Roberts to score enough here to cover the number, yet if the Cougars keep Zona off the offensive glass and out of transition, the Wildcats might not hit 60 again.

The total of 134.5 is much lower than the KenPom prediction of 141, but considering the challenge each team has offensively today that makes sense.

Two elite teams playing great ball right now, this should be an exciting contest. No official play for me, but if I had to pick a side, I’d lean Houston to find enough offense, control the tempo and cover the number.

Arizona vs. Houston Pick

• Pick Lean: Houston -5.5 (-110) Get oddschecker+ right now for just $9.99 per month. Don't miss out on this first month deal!