West Virginia Mountaineers vs Houston Cougars Prediction, Odds and Picks for Today, 01/13/26

Brace yourselves for a classic Big 12 rock fight on Tuesday night as the West Virginia Mountaineers face the Houston Cougars. These are two of the slowest teams in the nation—like, both are in the bottom 10 of pace of play. Houston is on a roll with only a single loss on the season, and they just beat Baylor on the road by 22. West Virginia just upended Kansas at home though, and they are better than expected in coach Ross Hodge’s first season. There is a scenario where this one spirals out of control on the Mountaineers on the road, but if this game stays as slow and low-scoring as it ought to, a 10-point lead will feel like 50. I’ll reluctantly take the points with the Mountaineers here at +14.5.

Ross Hodge has made the Mountaineers relevant in his first season. He is working with a completely rebuilt roster, but his slow, deliberate system of play is working, just as it did with North Texas, where he routinely had game totals listed well under 120 and sometimes all the way down to just 100 total points. Tonight might be one of those nights, and the Cougars won’t look to push the pace either. Houston’s defense vs the West Virginia offense is the question here. Can West Virginia mount any kind of offense against the elite defense of Ralph Samson? It’s not like the Mountaineers haven’t seen elite defenses before though—their last three games have been against Kansas (14^th in defensive efficiency), Cincinnati (8), and Iowa State (2), and they only lost at Iowa State by 11. West Virginia might be able to hang around in this one, and this team might be better than we expected.

West Virginia vs Houston Prediction: West Virginia +14.5 (-105) available at the time of publishing. Playable at that number.