March Madness: San Diego State and Houston Preview

March Madness Sees Both Teams On Huge Rolls

March Madness Round of 64 will not produce a more intriguing game than San Diego State and Houston. The fans at Intrust Bank Arena will see the 11th seeded San Diego State Aztecs and the 6th seeded Houston Cougars on Thursday evening.

Tip-off is scheduled for around 7:20 pm EST and TBS will have the coverage.

Oddsmakers opened the Cougars as -3.5-point favorites versus the Aztecs, while the game's total opened at 143. Houston is now 4.5-point favorites and the total is down to 141.

The Cougars, runners-up in the American Athletic Conference Tournament, and the Aztecs,winners of the Mountain West championship, have been on a roll over the second half of the season. Now it's just a matter of keeping that momentum going on the NCAA Tournament. In these win-or-go-home scenario's and the spotlights are the brightest.

Both teams are healthy and ready to prove they belong in March Madness

Houston has had one of its best seasons in decades. They broke into the Top 25. They reached as high as No. 21. The Cougars finished in a tie for second place in the AAC. The Cougars dominated Arkansas of the SEC.

Houston also had top-10 wins over Cincinnati and Wichita State, and did not lose consecutive games.

They came within a point of beating Cincinnati in the AAC tournament final after beating Wichita State (who was granted a No. 4 seed) in the semifinals. Cincy is a No. 2 seed in the NCAAs and won the league's regular-season title.

Houston heads to the NCAA tournament with 12 wins in its last 15 games. They also have an RPI higher than most of the tournament's fourth and fifth seeds.

San Diego State captured three games in three days at the Mountain West tournament. That includes the final against New Mexico, to earn its berth in the NCAAs. The Aztecs have won nine straight games since the return of injured guard Trey Kell in mid-February.

San Diego State is making its first NCAA appearance since 2015 and its seventh in the last nine seasons.

Houston and San Diego State have played twice in the past. The Aztecs' posted a 78-66 victory in San Diego on Jan. 29, 2002 and a 71-61 victory in Houston the following season Dec. 21, 2002.

The winner of the San Diego State-Houston clash will square off against the winner of the No. 3 Michigan and No. 14 Montana matchup on Saturday.

Recent Form

Name	Record	ATS	Offense	Defense	Diff	ATS Home	ATS Away	OU Record	OU Home	OU Away
San Diego State	22-10	20-10	77.50	67.91	9.59	11-2	4-7	14-15-1	4-9	6-5
Houston	26-7	18-10-1	77.42	64.91	12.51	8-2-1	5-7	13-16	4-7	6-6

Power Stats

Assists Turnovers
Name	Assists	Turnovers	Ratio
SD.ST	14.91	11.94	1.25
HOUST	14.91	12.15	1.23

Rebounding
Name	Offense	Defense	Total
SD.ST	11.03	26.56	37.59
HOUST	11.85	26.73	38.58

ShootingPercentage
Name	Offense	Defense	Differential
SD.ST	46.11	41.81	4.3
HOUST	46.59	39.63	6.96

Team Records

San Diego State Aztecs

Name	Record	Home	Away	ATS	ATS Home	ATS Away	Offense	Defense	Diff
Overall	22-10	14-3	8-7	20-10	12-3	8-7	77.50	67.91	9.59
Last 10	9-1	4-0	5-1	8-2	4-0	4-2	76.40	66.90	9.50
vs Conf	14-7	8-1	6-6	14-7	8-1	6-6	77.10	69.57	7.53

Houston Cougars

Name	Record	Home	Away	ATS	ATS Home	ATS Away	Offense	Defense	Diff
Overall	26-7	16-1	10-6	18-10-1	9-3-1	9-7	77.42	64.91	12.51
Last 10	8-2	5-0	3-2	8-2	4-1	4-1	78.00	62.50	15.50
vs Conf	16-5	10-0	6-5	13-7-1	7-2-1	6-5	75.29	63.90	11.39

Supergrid

Title	Stat	Rank	Stat	Rank
Away Team Overall Scoring vs Home Team Overall Defense	77.50	62	64.91	20
Home Team Overall Scoring vs Away Team Overall Defense	77.42	63	67.91	51

Head To Head Summary

Team	record	ATS	O/U	AVG	AVG ½	FG%	REB	3PT	steals
San Diego State	2-0	2-0	1-0	74.50	31.00	43.20	34.50	15/39	8.50
Houston	0-2	0-2	1-0	63.50	29.00	43.24	32.50	9/27	6.50

Head To Head Detail

Date	Away	away score	Home	home score	line	ATS	Total	O/U	FG% Edge	Reb Edge	3PT Edge	Away Half Score	Home Half Score	Away FG%	Home FG%	Away Rebounds	Home Rebounds	Away Three Pointers	Home Three Pointers	Away Steals	Home Steals
Dec 21, 2002	SD.ST	71	HOUST	61	4	SD.ST		O	HOUST	SD.ST	SD.ST	28	30	42.6	43.9	38	31	6/22	5/14	8	4
Jan 29, 2002	HOUST	66	SD.ST	78	-9	SD.ST	0	O	SD.ST	HOUST	SD.ST	28	34	42.6	43.8	34	31	4/13	9/17	9	9

March Madness Betting Trends

San Diego State Aztecs
San Diego State is 5-0 ATS in its last 5 games
San Diego State is 5-0 SU in its last 5 games
The total has gone UNDER in 6 of San Diego State's last 8 games

Houston Cougars
Houston is 5-1 ATS in its last 6 games
Houston is 5-1 SU in its last 6 games
The total has gone OVER in 5 of Houston's last 7 games

Team Last 5 Games

San Diego State Aztecs

Date	Opponent	score	Result	line	Total	ATS Result	field goal percentage	free throw percentage	three pointers	Location
Mar 10, 2018	NEWMX	82-75	W	-4	150	W/O	50.00	72.41	5	A
Mar 9, 2018	NEV	90-73	W	2.5	150	W/O	51.85	76.47	8	A
Mar 8, 2018	FRSNO	64-52	W	-4	138	W/U	42.31	70.83	3	A
Mar 3, 2018	NEV	79-74	W	-1.5	153.5	W/U	49.18	54.55	7	H
Feb 27, 2018	BOISE	72-64	W	-5	144	W/U	45.28	79.31	1	H

Houston Cougars

Date	Opponent	score	Result	line	Total	ATS Result	field goal percentage	free throw percentage	three pointers	Location
Mar 11, 2018	CINCY	55-56	L	4.5	132.5	W/U	34.55	83.33	7	A
Mar 10, 2018	WICHI	77-74	W	3	149	W/O	41.82	74.19	8	A
Mar 9, 2018	UCF	84-56	W	-9	126.5	W/O	57.89	70.00	4	H
Mar 4, 2018	UCONN	81-71	W	-14.5	141	L/O	45.28	73.53	8	H
Feb 28, 2018	SMU	69-56	W	-6	133.5	W/U	44.26	75.00	9	A

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