The Kansas State Wildcats take on the Houston Cougars in Houston, Texas. Tip-off is set for 4 p.m. ET on Peacock.
Houston is favored by 22.5 points on the spread with a moneyline of -8000. Kansas State, meanwhile, enters as a +22.5 underdog and is +1800 on the moneyline to pull off the upset. The over/under sits at 147.5 total points.
Here are my Kansas State vs. Houston predictions and college basketball picks for February 14, 2026.
Kansas State vs Houston Prediction
My Picks: Houston 1H ATS | Houston -22.5
My Kansas State vs Houston best bets are on the Cougars to cover the first-half and full-game spreads. For all of your college basketball bets, be sure to find the best lines by using our live NCAAB odds page.
Kansas State vs Houston Odds
| Kansas State Odds | ||
|---|---|---|
| Spread | Total | Moneyline |
+22.5 -110 | 147 -110o / -110u | +1800 |
| Houston Odds | ||
|---|---|---|
| Spread | Total | Moneyline |
-22.5 -110 | 147 -110o / -110u | -8000 |
- Kansas State vs Houston Spread: Houston -22.5, Kansas State +22.5
- Kansas State vs Houston Over/Under: 147.5 Points
- Kansas State vs Houston Moneyline: Kansas State +1800, Houston -8000
Kansas State vs Houston College Basketball Betting Preview
Kansas State Basketball
Kansas State hasn't made the NCAA Tournament since Jerome Tang's first season at the helm in 2023. That resulted in a ton of optimism when the Wildcats started this campaign 5-0.
Unfortunately for the Wildcat faithful, Kansas State has been atrocious ever since, winning just five of its next 19 contests.
The Wildcats enter Saturday’s Big 12 battle with a 10-14 overall record, having won just one of their first 11 conference matchups.
On Saturday, the Wildcats have another tall task, facing Kelvin Sampson's Cougars on the road.
On the positive side of things, though, the Wildcats' offense is led by PJ Haggerty. He's an exceptional scorer, averaging 23.3 points per game, which ranks second nationally. Haggerty is also posting over five rebounds and four assists a night.
While Haggerty is having a phenomenal junior season in Manhattan, the same can't be said for the rest of Tang’s squad, with just two other players posting double-figure scoring efforts.
Kansas State ranks outside the top 80 in the country in offensive efficiency, according to KenPom, an extremely problematic metric when being matched up against one of the best defenses in college basketball.
However, the majority of the blame should be placed on the Wildcats' efforts on the other end of the floor, with Kansas State ranking outside the top 100 in the country in defensive efficiency.
Houston Basketball
Sampson never ceases to amaze me. Year-in and year-out, he consistently produces rosters amongst the top in college basketball.
The Cougars are coming off a national title appearance last season, in which they blew a double-digit second-half lead.
The third-ranked Cougars come into Saturday’s Big 12 affair with a 22-2 overall record in 2025-26, having won 16 of their last 17 contests.
The Wildcats will surely be an appetizer for a Cougars squad set to close out February with an extremely difficult stretch of Big 12 opponents, featuring three consecutive contests against Iowa State, Arizona and Kansas.
Sampson had quite the offseason after losing leading scorer LJ Cryer, securing several key players through both recruitment and the transfer portal.
The head coach locked down three players ranked in the top 25 of this loaded class, namely Chris Cenac Jr., Isiah Harwell and Kingston Flemings.
While freshmen Cenac and Harwell may have been ranked higher, it’s Flemings who's had by far the greatest impact for the Cougars.
The guard is posting a tremendous 17 points, five assists and three rebounds per game. The superstar is converting on over half of his field-goal attempts, and now projects as a top-10 selection in the upcoming 2026 NBA Draft.
Flemings has really stepped up as Houston’s floor general, leading a team that ranks third in the country in offensive efficiency, according to KenPom.
Alongside Flemings, Houston’s senior leader Emanuel Sharp rounds out an elite backcourt. Sharp is posting a career-high 16 points per game after never previously having exceeded 12.5 points on average.
The Cougars' guard play is nothing short of elite, with fellow senior Milos Uzan also having a great offensive campaign.
While Sampson is primarily praised as a defensive mastermind, this is the first season of his 12-year tenure where the offense has been more efficient than the defense.
That said, the Cougars' defense isn't far behind, ranking fourth in the country in efficiency, according to KenPom. Cenac has been a monster presence in the paint, serving as an elite rim protector.
The same can be said of 6-foot-8 junior forward Joseph Tugler, who was a primary defensive contributor on last season's squad.
Sampson’s bigs boast a ton of size and athleticism, which makes it very difficult for teams to run offensive sets through the post in the half-court. When opponents successfully get the ball to the post, the Cougars quickly implement aggressive doubles to force turnovers going the other way.
Sampson’s prowess as a defensive-minded head coach is most apparent through the way his guards apply a heavy-pressure defensive system best characterized by full-court, relentless ball-pressure.
Sampson is an advocate of the “no middle” system, which forces ball-handlers to the sidelines to better control the paint, with both situations frequently resulting in turnovers. The Cougars are allowing just 61 points per game this season, which ranks second in the nation.
Kansas State vs. Houston Betting Analysis
This conference duel on Saturday afternoon features two teams going in completely opposite directions. While Sampson's Cougars have another NCAA Tournament No. 1 seed on their mind, Kansas State continues to get obliterated by a gauntlet of difficult opponents.
This is a pretty clear handicap then, as the Cougars meet with one of the worst teams in the conference on their home floor.
The Cougars have a number of difficult opponents ahead, and Saturday afternoon’s matchup is a chance for them to really keep their foot on the gas for all 40 minutes in preparation for the contests that follow.
I expect the Cougars to come out of the gates in scorching form, completely dominating the Wildcats from tip-off to the final whistle.
I'll be backing Houston to cover both its first-half and full-game spreads in what should be a beatdown.
My Pick: Houston 1H ATS | Houston -22.5
