#623/624 ASA TOP PLAY ON 9* Under 145.5 Points – Houston vs Arizona, Thursday at 10 PM ET - Arizona loves to run. They are at their best offensively when they get out in the open court. There is absolutely no way Houston head coach Kelvin Sampson lets that happen. The Cougars are one of the slowest paced teams in the nation (334th in adjusted tempo and 315th in possessions per game) and they will do everything in their power to ugly this game up. That’s their best chance in this one. The Cougs are fantastic defensively ranking 10th nationally in adjusted efficiency, 7th allowing 59 PPG, and #1 in the country allowing opponents to shoot just 37%. They have allowed 70+ points just ONCE in their last 13 games. Much is made of Zona’s offense but their defense has been fantastic. They are allowing opponent to average just 0.92 PPP adjusted efficiency which ranks them 19th nationally. They also allow opponents to shoot only 38% which ranks them 6th in the country. Neither team is elite at making 3-pointers and both prefer to score inside the arc. Problem is, that’s the strength of both defense ranking 2nd (Houston) and 9th (Arizona) defending inside the arc. Both teams are long, athletic and block a lot of shots inside (3rd and 25th in block shot %). If this turns into mainly a half court game which we feel it will, both teams are going to struggle to get good looks. Take the UNDER in this one.