The No. 5 seed Houston Cougars take on the No. 12 seed UAB Blazers at 9:20 p.m. ET on Friday at PPG Paints Arena. UAB finished the regular season 26-7 while the Cougars went 30-5. Houston is looking to replicate its Final Four run from a season ago, while the Blazers are making their first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2015.

The Cougars are favored by 8.5 points in the latest Houston vs. UAB odds from Caesars Sportsbook, and the over-under is set at 137.5. Before you make any UAB vs. Houston picks and predictions, you'll want to see what the SportsLine Projection Model is saying.

The SportsLine Projection Model simulates every Division I college basketball game 10,000 times. Over the past five-plus years, the proprietary computer model has generated an impressive profit of almost $1,500 for $100 players on its top-rated college basketball picks against the spread. Anyone who has followed it has seen HUGE returns!

Now, it has simulated Houston vs. UAB 10,000 times and the results are in. We can tell you that the model is leaning Over, and it's also generated a point-spread pick that is hitting in well over 60 percent of simulations. You absolutely need to see it before locking in your own picks.

Who wins Houston vs. UAB? And which side of the spread hits well over 60 percent of the time? Join SportsLine right now to see which side of the spread you need to jump on, all from the computer model that has crushed its college basketball picks.