Washington Huskies (9-6) vs. Arizona Wildcats (13-1)
January 5, 2023 11:00 pm EDT
The Line: Arizona Wildcats -17.5 / Washington Huskies +17.5; Over/Under: +154.5
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The Washington Huskies and the Arizona Wildcats meet in college basketball action from the McKale Center on Thursday night.
The Washington Huskies will look to snap a three-game losing streak after a 74-49 loss to UCLA last time out. Keion Brooks leads Washington in scoring and rebounding with 16.2 PPG and 6.4 RPG while Cole Bajema has 10.4 PPG with 4.9 RPG as the only other double-digit scorer for Washington so far this season. PJ Fuller II also has a team-high 3.2 APG to lead Washington in assists this season. As a team, Washington is averaging 68.8 PPG on 42.9% shooting from the field, 30.3% from three and 75.4% from the foul line this season.
The Arizona Wildcats will look to build on their 69-60 win over Arizona State last time out. Azuolas Tubelis leads the Wildcats in scoring with 20.1 PPG along with 8.7 RPG while Oumar Ballo has 17.4 PPG and a team-high 9.3 RPG to lead the Wildcats on the glass this season. Courtney Ramey has 11.1 PPG and 4.1 RPG and Kerr Kriisa has 11.4 PPG with 2.6 RPG and a team-high 6 APG to lead Arizona in assists this season. As a team, Arizona is averaging 88.7 PPG on 52.2% shooting from the field, 36.2% from three and 74.3% from the foul line this season.
Washington is 0-4-1 ATS in their last 5 games against a team with a winning record and 0-4-1 ATS in their last 5 games against a team with a winning percentage above .600 while the over is 6-1 in their last 7 road games following three or more consecutive home games. Arizona is 0-6 ATS in their last 6 Thursday games and 4-0-1 ATS in their last 5 games against a team with a winning record while the under is 4-0 in their last 4 games following an ATS win.
I get the case to be made for a decent-sized underdog like Washington like this, but this is a tough Arizona team to go against as they’re just well balanced all over the floor and I don’t expect Washington to get anything easy here. I look for Arizona to command the lead at the half and cruise to a 20+ win and cover here.