Houston Cougars (6-4, 1-3 on the road) at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Islanders (3-6, 2-2 at home)
Tip-Off: 7:00, 12/18/10
After a humbling home loss to Texas-San Antonio, the Cougar hoopsters had to wait a week to get back to the court, but they get their chance on Saturday against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. The Islanders have been off even longer - this will be their first game in 11 days.
The Islanders have only a single win against a Division 1 opponent on the ledger this year, a 69-65 victory over Bethune Cookman. The team revolves around 6'7" senior forward Demond Watt, who leads the team in scoring (16.6), rebounding (10.2), blocks (1.2) and even assists (1.8). Watt is shooting better than 61% from the field.
This is one of Houston's last chances to get some momentum going heading into conference play. It's pretty well determined that this isn't going to be a top 25, NCAA at-large berth-type season for the Cougars, but there is time to salvage a repsectable season, and it starts on Saturday. The Cougars have more weapons than the Islanders, have the horses to slow down Watt inside, and if they can rebound from their flat-footed performance against UTSA, they should win going away.
Pick to Click: Adam Brown. Not exactly going out on a limb picking the team's leading scorer, but Brown has made multiple three-point shots in five of Houston's last six games, and the Islanders aren't particularly strong defending the three-point line.
Prediction:
Houston 78
Corpus Christi 66