Predicting the Final Score for West Virginia's Matchup with No. 7 Houston

Picking tonight's game between the Mountaineers and Cougars.

Dec 9, 2025; Morgantown, West Virginia, USA; West Virginia Mountaineers guard Treysen Eaglestaff (52) shoots a three pointer during the first half against the Little Rock Trojans at Hope Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Ben Queen-Imagn Images | Ben Queen-Imagn Images

Tuesday night, the West Virginia Mountaineers will look to pick up their second straight Quad 1 win as they take on the seventh-ranked Houston Cougars.

Can WVU pull off the upset and capture the nation's attention? Here are our picks for tonight's game.

Schuyler Callihan: Houston 68, West Virginia 58

Houston is one of the toughest places to play in all of college basketball, which no one talks about. Kelvin Sampson has done a remarkable job building that program and consistently reloading talent when it departs for the NBA.

This year, they have an elite freshman guard in Kingston Flemings, who could be a big problem for the Mountaineers. Jasper Floyd will need to have a repeat performance of what he did against Darryn Peterson on Saturday if WVU has any hopes of sticking around and making this one interesting late.

Houston has done a terrific job in this three-game series against WVU in jumping out to a huge lead. This year's edition of the Mountaineers has played much better in the opening twenty minutes, and if that trend continues, there will be some optimism heading into the locker room. Taking care of the ball and not putting Houston on the line 15+ times will open the door for WVU to do the unthinkable. That said, I've got the Cougars pulling away in the final eight minutes.

Christopher Hall: Houston 78, West Virginia 67

West Virginia and Houston possess two of the best defenses in the Big 12, although the Cougars hold the edge with a superior perimeter defense.

Houston has won loss on the season, a nail-biting finish in the Players Era Championship against Tennessee back in November, while West Virginia has yet to win a game away from the Hope Coliseum.

The Mountaineers notched their first quad one win on Saturday against then-nationally ranked Kansas, which knocked the Jayhawks out of the AP Poll. Four Mountaineers hit double figures, and they will need that effort and more to pull off a bigger upset Tuesday night.

A Trio of guards lead Houston in scoring, led by redshirt senior Emanuel Sharp’s 16.1 points per game, with freshman Kingston Flemings not far behind at 15.7 ppg and point guard, senior Milos Uzan, rounding out the trio of Cougars averaging double figures, averaging 10.9 points and a team-high 5.1 assists per game.

West Virginia has lost by a wide margin in all three matchups against Houston, and I don’t suspect the series will flip in the fourth meeting. Mountaineers battle, but too much Houston in the backend of the second half as the Cougars roll 78-67.

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