In spite of the trend, I have a lean to Houston AND the over. This is and out-of-conference matchup, which is odd for this time in the season. Which team will me more motivated? Both teams have been on a serious slide, but Houston has played the much more difficult schedule, and I truly believe that people are laying WKY based on their reputation over the recent past.
Houston does not turn the ball over and is 5th in steal percentage.
Houston beat WKY at HST last year in their only meeting in recent history, but it was in the very first game of the year. I am not much into the revenge angle (I don't ignore it) because I think often times it can work against a team---and for the team that won the previous meeting, knowing they CAN win. In that game last year WKY had a 9 point halftime lead (at HST) and Houston outscored them by 19 in the second half. WKY had twice as many turnovers (remember HST number one in steals this year). WKY shot 11-24 from behind the arc (46%). WKY out-rebounded Houston and had more assists---and STILL lost.
Houston is a bit of an enigma----beating good teams like UTEP and Marshall, and losing to the likes of Cenral Florida. Houston is a different team away from home. Their only road wins are at Rice and East Carolina, both bad teams.
Western Kentucky has all their wins at home---only road win was South Alabama (#233). So what to expect. Well, I will take the OVER the total right now, as I expect niether team to play much defense and the game to be very up-tempo.
I check back later to see if Houston can actually get a road win-----remember, WKY has reputation with bettors and Houston has played a signigicantly better SOS. This could easily be a trap game.