No. 3 Houston hosts Battle and West Virginia

Fri, Jan 5, 2024
NCAAB News (AP)

West Virginia Mountaineers (5-8) at Houston Cougars (13-0)

Houston; Saturday, 2 p.m. EST

BOTTOM LINE: West Virginia visits the No. 3 Houston Cougars after Raequan Battle scored 24 points in West Virginia's 78-75 overtime loss to the Ohio State Buckeyes.

The Cougars have gone 8-0 at home. Houston leads the Big 12 in team defense, allowing 49.4 points while holding opponents to 34.5% shooting.

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The Mountaineers play their first true road game after going 5-8 to begin the season. West Virginia is 2-2 when it wins the turnover battle and averages 10.7 turnovers per game.

Houston's average of 8.0 made 3-pointers per game this season is just 0.5 fewer made shots on average than the 8.5 per game West Virginia allows. West Virginia averages 6.2 made 3-pointers per game this season, 0.7 more makes per game than Houston gives up.

The Cougars and Mountaineers match up Saturday for the first time in Big 12 play this season.

TOP PERFORMERS: J'wan Roberts is averaging 7.5 points and 7.1 rebounds for the Cougars. LJ Cryer is averaging 3.6 made 3-pointers over the last 10 games for Houston.

Quinn Slazinski is shooting 31.3% from beyond the arc with 1.6 made 3-pointers per game for the Mountaineers, while averaging 15.5 points and 5.2 rebounds. Jesse Edwards is shooting 54.8% and averaging 10.5 points over the last 10 games for West Virginia.

LAST 10 GAMES: Cougars: 10-0, averaging 74.2 points, 40.2 rebounds, 13.1 assists, 10.1 steals and 5.3 blocks per game while shooting 43.5% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 51.3 points per game.

Mountaineers: 3-7, averaging 68.6 points, 37.2 rebounds, 12.8 assists, 3.9 steals and 3.7 blocks per game while shooting 42.2% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 71.5 points.

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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.