Opening Texas A&M vs Houston Odds – Cougars Favored by Double-Digits

• The #1 Houston Cougars will face the #9 Texas A&M Aggies on Sunday, March 24
• Both teams dominated their first-round games
• The opening Houston vs Texas A&M odds heavily favor the top-seeded Cougars

The #9 Texas A&M Aggies put up 90-plus points for the third straight game on Friday, cruising to an impressive 98-83 win over #8 Nebraska. But scoring the ball will get much tougher from here as the Aggies get set to face the #1 Houston Cougars in the round of 32 at FedEx Forum in Memphis on Sunday, March 24.

Houston and its top-rated defense have opened as ten-point favorites over the Aggies

Texas A&M vs Houston Odds

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Odds as of March 23 at DraftKings. 

Houston (+130) remains a heavy favorite to win the South in the Final Four odds.

Aggies Offense Firing on All Cylinders

Texas A&M came out firing in its first-round game with Nebraska. The Aggies scored 58 first-half points and took a 14-point lead into halftime. The rest was academic as the Cornhuskers were never closer than 15 in the final 15 minutes of the game. Three separate players had at least 20 points for the Aggies,  led by Wade Taylor IV with 25 on 8-of-14 shooting from the field and an electric 7-of-10 performance from three.

Including a 97-87 win over Kentucky and a 95-90 loss to Florida (both in the SEC Tournament), Texas A&M has now scored 90-plus points in three straight games. The Aggies offense is sitting 30th in efficiency at KenPom while their defense is 62nd.

The win over Nebraska improved Texas A&M’s record against top-50 teams to 7-6. One of those losses was a narrow 70-66 setback to Houston at the Toyota Center.

Houston Runs Over Longwood

The Cougars played the role of a #1 seed to a tee on Friday night, blasting Longwood 43-16 in the first half and rolling to an 86-46 victory.

That was just the latest in a long line of dominant defensive performances from Houston. The Cougars allowed just 57 PPG, on average, this season and finished the regular season first in defensive efficiency. Overall, they rank second, narrowly trailing UConn. The Cougars have now held 21 of 35 opponents under 60 points.

Last season, Houston beat #16 Northern Kentucky (63-52) and #9 Auburn (81-64) in the NCAA Tournament (also as a #1 seed) before losing to Miami in the Sweet 16 (89-75).

Unlike last season, though, when Houston was still in the AAC, this year’s Cougars are battle-tested after winning the Big 12 regular-season title with a 15-3 record. Houston has already played 19 games against top-50 teams, going 15-4 straight up.

The winner of Texas A&M vs Houston will face the winner of James Madison vs Duke in the Sweet 16.

Expected Texas A&M vs Houston Line Movement

The way Texas A&M looked against Nebraska, coupled with the fact that they played the Cougars extremely close in a de facto road game in Houston earlier in the year, suggests that this line is going to narrow. But don’t expect it to move too much. Houston projects to win 70-60 per KenPom, and did nothing on Friday to dissuade bettors that they are the most-credible threat to UConn in the March Madness championship odds.