Texas vs Houston Odds, Pick: Target This Total

We have ourselves an all-Texas affair as the Texas Longhorns are set to take on the No. 3-ranked Houston Cougars. The Longhorns have been trading wins and losses in conference play, but this matchup will serve as a chance for revenge.

Texas and Houston met just a few weeks ago, and the Cougars narrowly escaped with an overtime victory.

Here's Texas vs. Houston odds and a pick.

The Longhorns are coming off an excellent offensive performance, as they hung 94 points on the West Virginia Mountaineers. However, they'll be in for a big challenge against the Cougars.

It's no secret that Houston is the top defensive team in the country, and it's great at all three levels. In the first meeting, we saw the Longhorns have success inside the arc, as their size allowed them to get a high percentage looks.

While Texas certainly deserves credit for taking the Cougars to the brink, their offensive success has to be seen as an outlier, and we can bet that Kelvin Sampson will have adjustments in this second meeting.

This end of the floor is where the Cougars will shine, as they rank first in effective field goal percentage, which is comprised of ranking inside the top 10 in 2-point and 3-point percentages. It's safe to say we should expect some sizable regression from the Longhorns offensively.

We know the Cougars' defense wasn't up to standard in the first meeting, but the Cougars did their part offensively, and that was the difference in the ball game. Houston shot 41.2% from the field, but what stood out was its work on the glass.

The Cougars rank fifth in offensive rebounding rate, and it showed against a bigger Texas squad. Houston won the rebounding battle 47-36, with 15 of its rebounds coming on the offensive end.

We should expect the Cougars to win the battle on the boards again, which will give them the edge as their defense settles in on the other end. However, don't be surprised if they don't have to clean up many misses from downtown, as the Longhorns are 232nd in 3-point percentage allowed.

The Longhorns gave the Cougars a run for their money in the first meeting, but the Cougars are expected to bounce back and take this meeting handily.

A big part of their winning game script will be a tremendous performance from their defense.

On the other end, Houston will control the tempo of this game, as it prefers to slow it down in the half court. The Cougars are 320th in average offensive possession length, and the Longhorns' size defensively will cause them to be even slower.

Even with all that, though, this number opened too low for me to back the under. Like I mentioned above, Houston has a big advantage on the glass and they have a great matchup against Texas' non-existent 3-point defense.

Houston should roll, and the over should hit.

Pick: Over 131