Arizona vs Washington State 1/7/23 College Basketball Picks, Predictions, Odds

The Washington State Cougars and the Arizona Wildcats meet Saturday in college basketball action from McKale Center. Washington State is fresh off a Thursday matchup versus Arizona State. In that one the Cougars fell by six points. As for Arizona, they played Washington in their last matchup. The Wildcats ended up winning by three points. Check back all season long for free college basketball picks at Sports Chat Place.

Washington State posted a 4-6 run through 10 games this year, beating Texas State, Eastern Washington, Detroit and Northern Kentucky. The Cougars hit a 2-3 run after that with wins over George Washington and USC. 

In their Thursday game versus Arizona State, Washington State was outscored 42-36 in the first half. The Cougars kept the pace from there but lost the game 77-71. Jabe Mullins was the leading team scorer on 19 points. 

Over on the Arizona side, they lost only one of their first 14 games this year. That defeat came on December 1 in an 81-66 result versus Utah. The Wildcats beat California, Indiana, Texas A&M-CC, Tennessee, Montana State, Morgan State and Arizona State after that. 

On Thursday versus Washington, Arizona was down 42-41 after one half. The Wildcats went on a 29-25 run from there and won it 70-67 in comeback fashion. Azuolas Tubelis was the leading scorer, doubling with 18 points and 10 rebounds. 

PICK: I may take a wild stab on Washington State here. The Cougars are struggling in the win column right now, going 1-4 in their last five outings. That said, Washington State was within 11 points in each of those losses (including one point versus UCLA) and they’ve hit 66 or more points in each of their last four outings. As for The Wildcats, they’re on a nice eight-game win streak right now but they cut it very close versus Washington on Thursday. If Arizona is looking past this matchup toward their upcoming Oregon State/Oregon road swing, Washington State could get in there.