Houston Cougars and Longwood Lancers square off in the first round of NCAA Tournament
Longwood Lancers (21-13, 9-10 Big South) vs. Houston Cougars (30-4, 17-4 Big 12)
Memphis, Tennessee; Friday, 9:20 p.m. EDT
FANDUEL SPORTSBOOK LINE: Cougars -24; over/under is 128
BOTTOM LINE: No. 2 Houston plays in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament against Longwood.
The Cougars have gone 17-4 against Big 12 teams, with a 13-0 record in non-conference play. Houston leads the Big 12 in team defense, allowing 57.0 points while holding opponents to 37.9% shooting.
The Lancers are 9-10 against Big South teams. Longwood has a 4-2 record in games decided by less than 4 points.
Houston is shooting 43.4% from the field this season, 0.2 percentage points lower than the 43.6% Longwood allows to opponents. Longwood has shot at a 45.6% clip from the field this season, 7.7 percentage points above the 37.9% shooting opponents of Houston have averaged.
TOP PERFORMERS: LJ Cryer is scoring 15.3 points per game and averaging 2.3 rebounds for the Cougars. Emanuel Sharp is averaging 2.2 made 3-pointers over the last 10 games.
Walyn Napper is scoring 14.6 points per game and averaging 4.0 rebounds for the Lancers. Michael Christmas is averaging 2.1 made 3-pointers over the last 10 games.
LAST 10 GAMES: Cougars: 9-1, averaging 71.7 points, 32.8 rebounds, 12.7 assists, 10.3 steals and 4.4 blocks per game while shooting 43.7% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 62.4 points per game.
Lancers: 7-3, averaging 76.8 points, 36.3 rebounds, 13.1 assists, 6.9 steals and 2.0 blocks per game while shooting 46.5% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 71.7 points.
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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.
