Opening Houston vs Arizona Odds & Prediction for Big 12 Championship Game

• The top-seeded Houston Cougars face the third-seeded Arizona Wildcats in the Big 12 Tournament title game
• Houston already owns a true-road win over Arizona from the regular season
• Below, see the opening Houston vs odds and my early prediction for the Big 12 Tournament finale

After cruising to the Big 12 regular-season title, the Houston Cougars (29-4, 19-1 Big 12, 17-16 ATS) look to add a Big 12 Tournament crown to their resume on Saturday when they face the Arizona Wildcats (22-11, 14-6 Big 12, 17-15 ATS) in the Big 12 title game at T-Mobile Center in Kansas City at 6:00 pm ET. After cruising past their first two opponents, the Cougars are once again sizable betting favorites in the tournament finale.

Houston vs Arizona Odds

Editor’s note: the odds in the table were updated at 9:55 am ET. The remainder of the article was published at 12:06 am ET.

Houston has opened as a 6.5-point favorite and -278 on the moneyline. The Wildcats come back as +225 moneyline underdogs.

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The game total for the Big 12 final has opened at 133.5. The first meeting between the teams finished with just 120 points (62-58 in favor of the Cougars).

Cougars Keep Demolishing Big 12 Competition

As if Houston’s 19-1 regular-season Big 12 record wasn’t enough to prove the Cougars are the class of the Big 12, they have emphasized that point in the conference tourney. Houston held a double-digit lead on Colorado for the vast majority of the second half en route to a 77-68 win. While they didn’t cover the 17.5-point spread, the outcome was never in doubt.

In the semifinals, Houston put the boots to #17 BYU for the second time this season, routing the other Cougars 74-54. They had previously crushed BYU by 31 in the regular season. Emmanuel Sharp (12.0 PPG, 3.1 RPG, 1.0 APG) poured in a game-high 26 points while leading scorer LJ Cryer (15.3 PPG, 2.2 RPG, 1.8 APG) added 20. The shutdown Houston defense limited BYU to just 32% shooting from the field. To put that in context, BYU averages 81.9 PPG and wasn’t held under 66 points by any other team. Yet Houston held them under 60 twice.

Houston vs Arizona KenPom Ratings

Arizona’s Route to the Big 12 Title Game

The Wildcats, the #3 seed in the tournament, also earned a double-bye to the quarterfinals. In their first game, the avenged a regular-season loss to Kansas with an 88-77 win over the Jayhawks. KJ Lewis (10.8 PPG, 4.5 RPG, 2.9 APG) and Henri Veesaar (9.5 PPG, 4.9 RPG, 1.3 APG) both scored a team-high 19 points off the bench for the Wildcats who were an efficient 31/58 from the field (53%).

In the semifinals, Arizona beat the #9 Texas Tech Red Raiders 86-80 as 1.5-point underdogs. A huge first half from Caleb Love (17 first-half points) staked the Wildcats to an eight-point halftime lead (47-39) that was never seriously threatened in the second stanza.

Love finished with a game-high 27 points while four Wildcats in total scored in double-figures. Arizona shot a blistering 50% from three and finished +6 in rebounding against a TTU group that doesn’t often get beat on the glass.

Early Houston vs Arizona Prediction

The Wildcats have turned their play up a couple of notches in the Big 12 Tournament. Caleb Love (16.2 PPG, 4.2 RPG, 3.6 APG) has now scored 20-plus points in four of his last seven games. The preseason Wooden Award contender finally looked the part in the Big 12 semifinals against a very good Texas Tech defense.

Arizona has the depth and athleticism to contend with Houston, which isn’t the case with a lot of teams in the Big 12. I like the value on the Wildcats to pull off the upset at +225.

Early HOU vs ARI pick: Arizona moneyline (+225)