California Golden Bears (8-12) vs. Arizona Wildcats (15-5)
February 1, 2024 8:30 pm EDT
The Line: Arizona Wildcats -18; Over/Under: 158.5
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The California Golden Bears and the Arizona Wildcats meet Thursday in college basketball action from McKale Center. California enters this one at 8-12 so far following a win over Stanford back on Friday. As for Arizona, they beat Oregon over the weekend to improve the Wildcats to 15-5 on the year. Let’s get into our California vs. Arizona prediction. Check back all season long for free college basketball picks at Sports Chat Place.
California Golden Bears
The Bears could only win four of their first 14 games this year during a rough start. Those victories came over St. Thomas-MN, CSU Bakersfield, Santa Clara and UC San Diego. California is 4-2 since then with wins over UCLA, Colorado, Washington State and Stanford.
In the Stanford game back on Friday, California was down by four points at the break. The Golden Bears hit a 37-31 run in the second half though, taking the comeback win 73-71. Jaylon Tyson topped the team with 14 points and six boards, while all five starters finished in double-figures.
Arizona Wildcats
Over on the Wildcats’ side, they won eight straight games out of the gate this year but haven’t been able to win more than two consecutive since then. Arizona is 3-1 in their last four games though, with a loss to Oregon State among wins over USC, UCLA and Oregon in that time.
Matched up against Oregon on Saturday, the Wildcats were up 45-38 in the locker room. Arizona kept it up on a 42-40 second half and took the eventual victory 87-78. Caleb Love was the team’s leading scorer in the win with 36 points, three rebounds and two assists.
ANDREW’S FREE CALIFORNIA VS ARIZONA PREDICTION
I’ll take a stab on California. Make no mistake, however: this is going to be a very tough matchup for the Bears. That said, they’ve been playing better lately. California shot 41 percent from the field with 39 rebounds in their latest win versus Stanford, and the Bears have now scored 73 or more points in five straight games.
It’s going to be tough to slow Arizona down though, as the Wildcats have hit 77 or more points in four straight games themselves. It may take a little garbage-time magic to get in there, but I think California is capable of pulling off a cover here if all goes well.
