The Cougars travel to Boulder and face Colorado for the first time as Big 12 rivals, looking for a dominant road win after a few days’ rest. Keep reading for the Houston vs Colorado prediction.
Game information:
Teams: Houston (19-4, 10-1), and Colorado (9-13, 0-11)
Tip-off: 3 p.m. CST
Watch: ESPN+
Listen: KPRC 950
Latest on Colorado basketball:
The Buffaloes have been struggling this season, ranked at the bottom of the Big 12 conference in 16th. Colorado has lost their last 11 games and as a result, has yet to win a conference game so far. Their last win came on Dec. 21, 2024 vs Bellarmine at home 79-55. The Buffaloes most recently played against Utah on Wednesday night and lost 72-59. Junior guard Javon Ruffin was the leading scorer off the bench with 13 points and 3 assists. This season, senior point guard Julian Hammond III leads Colorado on offense with 13.3 PPG and 3.3 assists per game. Graduate guard Andrej Jakimovski is second on the team with 10 PPG.
Head coach Tad Boyle is in his 15th season at Colorado and joined in 2010 after a stint at Northern Colorado. This will be his first time facing Houston and Kelvin Sampson, who has a lot of respect for Boyle. The overall series history between UH and Colorado is currently tied at 3-3. Saturday’s game will be the first time the two teams will face each other since the 1995 season. Colorado has won the last two encounters, meanwhile, Houston’s last win against the Buffaloes was in 1972.
Sampson had praise for the center Bangot Dak who he called really active and skilled.
“They’ve got some really good shooters, they’ve had a lot of bad luck, they’ve been in games with a chance to win it, but haven’t been able to get over the hump,” Sampson said.
Latest on Houston basketball:
The Cougars will look to stay undefeated in road conference play and maintain their position at the top of the Big 12. Houston gets senior forward Ja’Vier Francis back for Colorado after clearing his concussion recovery, said Sampson on Thursday. They will still be without junior guard Emanuel Sharp, who has been shut down this week still recovering from his ankle injury.
UH is coming off a 72-63 home win vs Oklahoma State where graduate guard LJ Cryer was the leading scorer with 18 points and graduate forward J’Wan Roberts put up his second double-double of the season with 14 points and 10 rebounds. Sophomore guard Terrance Arceneaux had a good performance of 10 points and a career-high six assists, stepping into the starting lineup for the injured Sharp. Arceneaux will look to continue that play in this game.
Junior point guard Milos Uzan scored 17 points with five assists and 0 turnovers vs OKST, leading the Big 12 in assist-turnover ratio. Sophomore forward Joseph Tugler was announced this week as a finalist for the Naismith defensive player of the year award. Tugler is third in the Big 12 with over 2 blocked shots per game.
“He is an elite, elite defensive player, I would not trade him for another player in the country for our defense,” Sampson said.
Houston vs Colorado Prediction: Cougars by 30
This is a very winnable game against the worst Big 12 team and UH puts on a strong performance in Colorado.
[…] #3: Colorado put up a strong […]