The Houston Cougars take on the Oklahoma Sooners. Check out our college basketball odds series for our Houston Oklahoma prediction and pick. Find how to watch Houston Oklahoma.

The Oklahoma Sooners will be in the 2024 NCAA Tournament. Porter Moser, a protege of former Utah Utes head coach Rick Majerus, took Loyola of Chicago to the 2018 Final Four and parlayed his success at Loyola into the Oklahoma job. Moser didn't immediately succeed at Oklahoma, but he has noticeably improved the Sooners compared to 2023. Oklahoma has managed to win a number of close games it failed to win last year. The Sooners have won their share of battles in the Big 12 and have shown more resilience this season, taking the forward step their fans really needed them to make.

The one thing Oklahoma has failed to do, however, is beat a heavyweight team this season. Oklahoma failed to beat Kansas this season. Now the Sooners get a crack at Big 12-leading Houston, a team which is very likely to be a No. 1 seed in the upcoming NCAA Tournament. Oklahoma has had a good season. Beating Houston and advancing at least one seed line in the bracket could give the Sooners a much greater chance of winning an NCAA Tournament game, which is realistically the next important goal for OU in 2024.

Here are the Houston-Oklahoma College Basketball odds, courtesy of FanDuel.

College Basketball Odds: Houston-Oklahoma Odds

Houston Cougars: -6.5 (-106)

Oklahoma Sooners: +6.5 (-114)

Over: 128.5 (-115)

Under: 128.5 (-105)

How To Watch Houston vs Oklahoma

Time: 8:00 pm ET / 5:00 pm PT

TV: ESPN2

Stream: fuboTV (click for a free trial)*

Why Houston Could Cover the Spread

The most reliable team of the college basketball season has been UConn. Right behind the Huskies are the Houston Cougars, who — it could be argued — are the second-best team in the country, not Purdue. Houston has handled a much tougher conference than Purdue has. Purdue has taken advantage of the weak Big Ten. The Big 12, on the other hand, is a much more rugged and formidable conference, and Houston has put that conference at its feet. Houston leads Iowa State by a game with three games left in the regular season. The Cougars' defense and toughness under head coach Kelvin Sampson — the former Oklahoma coach who guided the Sooners to the Final Four in 2002 — give Houston a level of dependability we don't see with many college basketball teams. Houston won a big road game at Baylor last Saturday. The Cougars should be able to deal with an opponent (OU) which is weaker than Baylor one week later. Oklahoma is a high-effort team, but its offensive stars aren't good enough to hang with Houston's defense for 40 minutes.

Why Oklahoma Could Cover the Spread

The Sooners are not as good as Houston, but they are going to pour everything into this game in the attempt to knock off one of the big boys in college basketball. We have compared Houston to UConn in terms of dependability, but as we saw with UConn getting blown out by Creighton not that long ago, a really good team will have the occasional off day. More than that, great teams usually do step off the gas pedal just before the NCAA Tournament. They take a small but real step down in terms of intensity because they are gearing up for March Madness and the games when they absolutely have to be at their best. Houston might get caught in between here, and OU can take advantage.

Final Houston-Oklahoma Prediction & Pick

Houston's defense should absolutely smother Oklahoma's less-than-great offense. Houston has a far higher ceiling and should be able to dictate the terms on which this game is played. Take Houston.

Final Houston-Oklahoma Prediction & Pick: Houston -6.5