The No. 8 Arizona Wildcats head home on Thursday to take on the Utah Utes for the second time this season. It will be the first of three games at home for Arizona, and the team is hoping to get off on the right foot. Utah is on a two-game winning streak and has already notched a big win over the ranked Wildcats this season.
Let’s check the latest college basketball news, stats, injury reports and college basketball lines for Utah vs Arizona. We’ve got plenty of NCAA basketball picks for you to consider.
Utah Looking for 2-0 Season Sweep
The first time these teams met, Utah pulled off an impressive win thanks in part to the play of their perimeter defense. Utah got crushed in the paint with Arizona’s two starting big men, Oumar Ballo and Azuolas Tubelis, combining to score more than half of the team’s points. However, the rest of the group was swarmed all night, and each had a terrible game. The remaining three starters shot a combined 5-for-27 from the field (18.5%).
The Utes do have answers to Arizona’s bigs in the form of Carlson brothers Branden and Ben. The former is the leader of this team, with 16.5 points, 7.6 rebounds, and 2.2 blocks per game. His brother is more of a role player but is over 7 feet and a sturdy defender.
The Wildcats have a superior team on paper, but are they 11 points better? The spread tonight feels wide for this rematch.
Arizona Coming Off Tough Loss
With the No. 1 Alabama Crimson Tide losing on Wednesday night, Arizona stood to move up a few spots in the standings with a seven-game winning streak over the last few weeks. But the curse of ranked teams losing to unqualified opponents continued, and Arizona got beat 88-79 by a bad Stanford Cardinal team.
Now the Wildcats get a second crack at Utah, who upset them earlier in the season by 15.
Despite the tragic loss to Stanford, Arizona is 6-2 against the spread (ATS) in its previous eight games and has a superior roster on paper. The flip side is that the Wildcats are 7-8 ATS against conference opponents and 1-2 coming off a loss.
No matter what happens, we will learn much about the Wildcats tonight and what kind of team they are. The books believe in this team as -11 point favorites, but I have my doubts.
Utah vs Arizona Game Injuries
Utah vs Arizona Head-to-Head
Utah won the first meeting between these teams 81-66 back in December. It was shocking, considering the Utes were +6½ underdogs on home court. The Wildcats are 3-2 SU in the last five matches dating back to 2020.
Utah vs Arizona Game Information
- Game: Utah (17-9, 10-5 Pac-12) vs No. 8 Arizona (22-4, 11-4)
- Location: McKale Center, Tucson, AZ
- Day/Time: Thursday, Feb. 16, 10:00 p.m. ET
- Utah vs Arizona Live Stream: TBS.com
Utah vs Arizona Betting Lines
Utah vs Arizona Picks & Prediction
Losing to Stanford was a big red flag for this Arizona team in my eyes. The spread for the Wildcats is sky-high at 11 points. It’s a wild number after Arizona lost to Utah once this season and earlier this week to the Cardinal.
The Wildcats are a decent ATS team, but at 2-7 against teams with a winning record, I don’t have faith in them to blow Utah out of the water.
The Arizona Wildcats are listed at -600 in our Vegas college basketball lines. If you wager $100 on the Wildcats, you can win $17. The Utah Utes are +450, offering a chance to win $450 on a $100 wager.
The implied probability attached to the betting lines gives the Wildcats an 85.71% chance to win, with the Utes at 18.18%.
The odds and predictions in the article are based on the time of writing and publication. They may differ as to when the actual event takes place.
Utah vs Arizona Trends
Utah vs Arizona Edge
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Utah vs Arizona Game Summary
