KenPom Predicts No. 21 BYU vs No. 4 Houston

No. 21 BYU basketball is 2-3 in conference play and coming off a tough loss to Texas Tech. The Cougars will look to rebound on Tuesday night against one of the

Casey Lundquist | Jan 23, 2024

No. 21 BYU basketball is 2-3 in conference play and coming off a tough loss to Texas Tech. The Cougars will look to rebound on Tuesday night against one of the top teams in the country, no. 4 Houston. Houston is 3-2 in conference play.

KenPom, the industry leader in college basketball analytics, predicted BYU-Houston. KenPom gives BYU an 40% chance to win with a projected final score of 69-66 in favor of Houston.

KenPom likes both of these teams. As of this writing, BYU is ranked 10th in KenPom while Houston is ranked 1st.

Game Information

BYU (14-4) vs Houston (16-2)
Tuesday, January 23
Tipoff: 7:00 p.m. MT
Provo, Utah
Marriott Center

BYU in the Polls

On Monday, the new AP poll for college basketball was released and BYU dropped one spot from no. 20 to no. 21 after splitting games last week against Iowa State and Texas Tech. The Cougars, who are 2-3 in conference play, host no. 4 Houston on Tuesday night.

BYU is one of seven Big 12 teams in the AP top 25. They are joined by Houston (4), Kansas (7), Oklahoma (11), Baylor (15), Texas Tech (20), and Iowa State (23).

This is a critical week for BYU hoops. After hosting the Houston Cougars on Tuesday, BYU will host the Texas Longhorns on Saturday. Those two games represent a rare opportunity for BYU to spend an entire week at home. These two games are swing games on BYU's schedule. At minimum, it feels like BYU needs to split this home series. An 0-2 record this week would have BYU near the bottom of the conference with a 2-5 record. A 2-0 record this week would put BYU at 4-3 and competing for an upper seed in the conference tournament.

Below is the full AP top 25.

UConn
Purdue
North Carolina
Houston
Tennessee
Kentucky
Kansas
Auburn
Arizona
Illinois
Oklahoma
Duke
Wisconsin
Marquette
Baylor
Dayton
Creighton
Utah State
Memphis
Texas Tech
BYU
FAU
Iowa State
Colorado State
New Mexico

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Published Jan 23, 2024

CASEY LUNDQUIST

Casey Lundquist is the publisher and lead editor of Cougs Daily. He has covered BYU athletics for the last four years. During that time, he has published over 2,000 stories that have reached more than three million people.