The Cincinnati Bearcats and the Arizona Wildcats meet Monday in college basketball action from Lahaina Civic Center. Cincinnati enters this Maui Invitational matchup at 3-1. The Bearcats lost to Northern Kentucky in their last game. As for Arizona, they’re 3-0 on the year and coming off a win over Utah Tech. Check back all season long for free college basketball picks at Sports Chat Place.
Cincinnati opened up the year with a pretty easy matchup versus Chaminade and a 98-55 victory. The Bearcats kept it going with two more victories in the next pair, taking out Cleveland State 69-58 and Eastern Kentucky 87-69.
The Bearcats ran into some trouble on Wednesday in their game versus Northern Kentucky. Cincinnati held a 40-36 lead by halftime but scored just 11 points in the second during a 64-51 loss. Viktor Lakhin posted nine points with nine rebounds in the defeat.
Over on the Arizona side, it’s been smooth sailing so far. The Wildcats kicked off their 2022-23 campaign versus Nicholls State with a 117-75 win. Game two was another victory, this time 95-78 over Southern U on November 11.
In Thursday’s game versus Utah Tech, Arizona didn’t have too much trouble. The Wildcats got off to a 49-21 edge by the break and cruised from there to a 104-77 win. Kerr Kriisa led the way on 24 points, and Oumar Ballo doubled on 16 points and 11 boards.
PICK: I might take a stab on Cincinnati here. The Bearcats are going to need a big bounce-back effort in this one, though. Cincinnati was pretty abysmal in the second half of their loss to Northern Kentucky, eventually posting a tepid 33.9 shooting percentage and just 5-of-13 (38.5 percent) from the line. The Bearcats are going to have to hustle to keep up with Arizona, who will post a lot of points in this one. I like Cincinnati to eke into a cover as the Wildcats take their foot off the gas later in the game.