Arizona vs Cal Baptist 12/18/21 College Basketball Picks, Predictions, Odds

The Cal Baptist Lancers and the Arizona Wildcats meet in college hoops action from the McKale Center on Saturday afternoon.

The Cal Baptist Lancers come into this game looking to bounce back from a 70-54 loss at the hands of UC-Riverside in their last game. Daniel Akin leads the Lancers in scoring and rebounding with 13.6 PPG and 7.8 RPG while Taran Armstrong has 12 PPG with 7.4 RPG and a team-high 8.3 APG to lead the Lancers in assists. Reed Nottage has 11 PPG to cap off the trio of double-digit scorers for Cal Baptist so far this season while Tre Armstrong also has 9.8 PPG this season. As a team, Cal Baptist is averaging 73.6 PPG on 48.8% shooting from the field, 33.5% from three and 63.9% from the foul line while allowing 63.3 PPG on 39.7% shooting from the field and 30.9% from three this season.

The Arizona Wildcats will look to build on a 101-76 win over Northern Colorado last time out. Bennedict Mathurin leads the Wildcats in scoring with 17.7 PPG along with 6.9 RPG while Azuolas Tubelis has 15.8 PPG with 6.8 RPG. Christian Koloko has 13.8 PPG with a team-high 7 RPG to lead Arizona on the glass while Kerr Krilsa has 12.4 PPG with a team-high 5.4 APG to lead the Wildcats in assists and round out the group of double-digit scorers for Arizona so far this season. As a team, Arizona is averaging 91.7 PPG on 49.6% shooting from the field, 34.3% from three and 72.2% from the foul line while allowing 63.1 PPG on 36.4% shooting from the field and 31.9% from three this season.

Cal Baptist is 3-8 ATS in their last 11 games overall and 1-4 ATS in their last 5 road games while the under is 5-0 in their last 5 games as an underdog. 5-1-1 ATS in their last 7 home games and 5-0-1 ATS in their last 6 games overall while the over is 8-0 in their last 8 games as a favorite.

I get why the points with the Lancers are tempting as it looked for a while in Arizona’s last game like the Wildcats may miss the cover. However, Arizona bagged another one and it’s at a point with the Wildcats where you simply ride the train until the hot hand stops paying off. Cal Baptist is a solid team, but the Wildcats have feasted on lesser opposition all year long and I think this game is no different. Give me the Wildcats here.