Basketball Game Preview: University Cougars vs. Horizon Hawks

The University Cougars will challenge the Horizon Hawks at 7:30 p.m. on Friday. The timing is sure in University's favor as the team sits on four straight wins at home while Horizon has been banged up by 11 consecutive losses on the road dating back to last season.

If Horizon heads into halftime all tied up, they better play a good second half: that's when University took over last week. University strolled past West Orange with points to spare on Wednesday, taking the game 59-45. Given the Cougars' advantage in MaxPreps' Florida basketball rankings (they are ranked 107th, while the Warriors are ranked 381st), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.

Meanwhile, Horizon played a tough match on Wednesday in which they were outscored in every quarter. They came up short against Harmony, falling 65-40. The Hawks were down 49-20 at the end of the third quarter, which was just too much to recover from.

Horizon's defeat dropped their record down to 1-21. As for University, they are on a roll lately: they've won seven of their last nine games, which provided a nice bump to their 15-7 record this season.

University beat Horizon 63-56 in their previous meeting back in January of 2024. One of the biggest obstacles trying to stand in the way of that victory was Horizon's Adonys Christo, who dropped a double-double on 15 points and ten assists. Now that he won't be playing on Friday, will it be easier for University to walk away with another win? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.