The Houston Cougars might have an undefeated record, and perhaps a top-five national ranking, if not for a couple of free throws by Brandon Rachal with one second left that lifted the Tulsa Golden Hurricane to an upset win on December 29.

Now Houston has a chance to get some payback,as these teams meet at the Fertitta Center in Houston on Wednesday night.

Hey - remember that if you are signed up with BetAnySports, you can get reduced juice, not to mention Sports Betting Prime.

TULSA GOLDEN HURRICANE at HOUSTON COUGARS, 8 PM ET (ESPN Plus)

College Basketball Odds: Houston -12.5, Total 126

In Tulsa's previous 65-64 victory, Houston did a great job on the offensive boards, with 16 rebounds. But one of the areas in which they were not able to get off was that of three-point shooting, where they hit just four of 21.

The reality is that Tulsa is the team that is a little more compromised in terms of long-range marksmanship, as they're only 27.6% accurate. And they are the team that probably is going to need multiple ways to score.

Houston coach Kelvin Sampson is one of the great proponents of defense. And his Cougars respond; they rank fifth in the nation in Adjusted Defensive Efficiency, according to the folks at KenPom.com. And they will completely take away the opponent's three-point arsenal, as they do with most opponents (allowing 25.6%).

Another place where the Cougars will get the better of most opponents is on the offensive boards, where they grab 40.6% of all opportunities. Tulsa, on the other hand, is 312th in Defensive Rebounding Percentage. So that is going to be a huge advantage,especially when Justin Gorham is in the game. Gorham, a 6-7 forward, has averaged 4.8 rebounds a game on the offensive end. In other words, he's a bit of a monster.

Houston suffered a big loss when Caleb Mills, their leading scorer last season and the pre-season AAC player of the year, decided to leave school and transfer to Florida State. But they are happy to have Quentin Grimes around. Grimes transferred over from Kansas, where he started every game as a true freshman, which means he can play. But he did not achieve the way Bill Self hoped he would, so here he is, the leading scorer for the eighth-ranked team in the country.

Tulsa has relied on its defense this season, and that is how they hope to keep it close. But even though their numbers aren't bad (31.2 % vs. threes, 48.7% vs. two's), they aren't at last year's levels. Coach Frank Haith, however, feels that controlling tempo is going to be important as well, although there is little chance that they will be able to slow the proceedings down enough to make Houston uncomfortable.

Not that they are teeming with firepower, but the Cougars are going to get better shots from the arc, get to the line more (free throws constituting 26.7% of their points), defend better, and get the EASIER shots, by virtue of their O-rebounding. Plus, they want payback. So we're laying the points.

BetAnySports customers get the best of everything, including reduced juice for better odds, and of course, Sports Betting Prime, which enables them to stay very much in the action with real-time wagering after the opening tip..... And they've got a lot of options for you to open up an account, including debit or credit card, person-to-person transfer or the virtual currency of Bitcoin, which is fast and easy with their automated system, and never incurs a transaction fee!