These two programs are wildly similar.
Purdue and Houston will meet late tonight for a bout of two teams that have historically had similar success in March.
Neither Purdue or Houston has won a National Championship, but both of the modern day blue blood programs have had great success in the tournament, with several Sweet 16s, Elite 8s and a couple of final 4 appearances.
According to FanDuel, Purdue enters the game as an underdog against the Cougars, with Houston being favored by 8.5 points.
That is the 2nd largest spread of the weekend with only Duke being favored by 9.5 points over Arizona being the largest.
In my opinion though, it is a much different situation. Duke by far had the best player on court with Cooper Flagg and deserved to be heavy favorites.
But, can the same be said for Houston? Is LJ Cryer, their best player, better than Braden Smith or Trey Kaufman-Renn?
I venture to say no, Smith, who is a 1st Team All American should be the best player on the floor tonight. Purdue will need both his points and playmaking ability to win this game.
Braden has averaged just north of 16 points per game while adding nearly 9 assists per game on the season. Coach Painter will need that and more to win against the depth of the Cougars.
LJ Cryer on the other hand will look to expose the Purdue average perimeter defense, with his sharpshooting. The combo guard shoots the 3 point shot at a 44% clip, and if Purdue leaves him open it will cause issues quick.
He can heat up quick and never look back.
Houston will not abuse Purdue with their size in the post, but they do have great veteran athletes down low.
Look no further than 6-8, 240 pound J’Wan Roberts. The 5th year forward, who averages 11 ppg and 6.5 rpg, will more than likely be tasked with slowing down TKR.
Coach Sampson has kept him around all five years and in each year his role has grown more.
He now is the centerpiece to their defense and is one of the better interior defenders in the nation.
He has yet to defend someone as effective as TKR in the post though, who is shooting 60.7% from the field on his way to 19.7 ppg.
When TKR stays out of foul trouble he has the ability to dominate, like we saw vs McNeese, he ended that game with 30 and 15.
There is no doubt that Houston has the superior depth in this matchup. The Cougars won many games with their depth and balance, but you could argue that tonight Purdue will have the two best players on the court and that alone will give Purdue a great chance at winning.