Houston faces Northern Kentucky in first round of NCAA Tournament

Northern Kentucky Norse (22-12, 14-6 Horizon League) vs. Houston Cougars (31-3, 17-1 AAC)

Birmingham, Alabama; Thursday, 9:20 p.m. EDT

FANDUEL SPORTSBOOK LINE: Houston -19.5; over/under is 122.5

BOTTOM LINE: The No. 2 Houston Cougars play in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament against the Northern Kentucky Norse.

The Cougars' record in AAC play is 17-1, and their record is 14-2 against non-conference opponents. Houston averages 9.4 turnovers per game and is 1-0 when it wins the turnover battle.

The Norse are 14-6 in Horizon League play. Northern Kentucky is 5-3 in games decided by 3 points or fewer.

TOP PERFORMERS: Jamal Shead is averaging 10.3 points, 5.4 assists and 1.8 steals for the Cougars. Marcus Sasser is averaging 17.1 points, 3.2 assists and 1.7 steals over the past 10 games for Houston.

Marques Warrick is scoring 19.1 points per game and averaging 2.4 rebounds for the Norse. Sam Vinson is averaging 2.1 made 3-pointers over the last 10 games for Northern Kentucky.

LAST 10 GAMES: Cougars: 9-1, averaging 74.1 points, 36.8 rebounds, 15.2 assists, 8.7 steals and 4.0 blocks per game while shooting 43.4% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 58.7 points per game.

Norse: 7-3, averaging 69.7 points, 29.5 rebounds, 13.1 assists, 8.2 steals and 2.8 blocks per game while shooting 43.7% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 64.9 points.

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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.