Valparaiso at Houston

Houston has put together a very good season in terms of wins and losses, but there is not a whole lot of quality associated with the win column. They finished with nine losses, but five occured in their last ten games. Their stretch-run was bad as they covered just two of their last seven. They really like to push the ball, and often settle for bad shots. This has led to a team that is amongst the NCAA's worst, shooting just 41.1% on the season. Valpo went through a rough stretch winning just four of 14 games, but is playing their best basketball of the season right now. They have won seven of their last eight. They just won at Washington, who has beaten UCLA, Arizona and Oregon at home, as well as dropping a 4 point decision to Wash State, and a 1 point loss to Pitt. It speaks volumes for how this team is really coming together now. This is simply too many points to give to a team that has played on the road at Butler, Wisconsin, Washington and Vanderbilt, and has not lost at any of those sites by more than 10. The Crusaders could surprise and get the out-right win, but at the very least they should hang tough.