While the No. 16 Iowa Hawkeyes and No. 4 Michigan State Spartans battle it out at Breslin Center for the second time this season, there’s also another intriguing showdown happening over at the McKale Center that you wouldn’t want to miss.
Two Pac-12 powerhouse programs go at one another as the No. 25 Arizona Wildcats take on the visiting Washington Huskies, who boast a 3-0 win-loss record in conference play. Who will emerge victorious here? Will the Huskies make it four wins in a row? Or will the Wildcats extinguish their current win streak?
Just read on below for a comprehensive breakdown of this intriguing matchup.
[sc:MarchMadness ]Washington Huskies vs. Arizona Wildcats Preview
Where: McKale Center, Tucson, Arizona
When: Thursday, January 14, 2016, 9:00 PM ET
Line: Washington Huskies (+12.5) vs. Arizona Wildcats (-12.5)– view all NCAA Basketball lines
TV Broadcast: FS1
Betting on the Washington Huskies (11-4, 3-0 Pac-12)
[sc:NCAAB240banner ]For the third-straight time, the Washington Huskies managed to come out victorious despite trailing after the first half. The latest one happened last Saturday at the expense their interstate rivals in the Washington State Cougars, 99-95. In that game, it was the pair of Andrew Andrews and Dejounte Murray who led the way for the Huskies.
Andrews, the lone senior on the team, had a game-high 29 points, 10 boards and seven dimes while going 13-for-17 from the charity stripe. Murray, meanwhile, trailed him with 25 points (9-of-20) and seven assists under his belt. Both will certainly be aiming to stay hot opposite an Arizona squad that’s given up an average of 85.5 points in its previous four matches.
David Crisp could also prove to be another key factor for the Huskies as well. Crisp has finished with 11 or more points in six of his last eight games. But in the game against the Cougars, he only racked up eight points on 3-of-8 shooting as he dealt with foul trouble.
Over on defense, the Huskies cannot afford to relax with the likes of Allonzo Trier (14.8 PPG), Ryan Anderson (14.4 PPG) and Gabe York (13.8 PPG) on the opposing side. That said, the pressure is indeed on the entire roster to deliver the same intensity on both sides of the hardwood and keep a close eye on those three in particular.
Washington is 4-6 SU and 5-5 ATS in its past 10 games as the road team.
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Betting on the Arizona Wildcats (13-3, 1-2 Pac-12)
With the gut-wrenching 103-101 quadruple-overtime loss to USC on Saturday, the seventh-ranked Arizona Wildcats have fallen short in two-straight games for the first time this season. In both setbacks, they failed to deliver the goods down the stretch and at the same time wasted the notable efforts of their top scorer, Allonzo Trier.
Trier is averaging 19.0 points and is shooting the ball at 48.3 percent in that brief stretch. His performance versus the Trojans, in particular, was really spectacular as he finished with a season-best of 25 points along with four three-pointers. Trier is bound to have another huge game especially since the Huskies defense is giving up almost 80 points per game this year.
Furthermore, Ryan Anderson and Gabe York are probably going to get their share of points as well. The two seniors are still struggling with consistency, but nonetheless have proven to be very capably threats on offense.
Anderson, the team’s second-leading scorer, has contributed 10 or more points in all but two of his games this year. He also has eight double-doubles already this season. York, on the other hand, enters this matchup averaging 17.0 points in his past three games.
Arizona has won nine of its last 10 home games, going 5-5 ATS in that stretch.
Writer’s Prediction
Washington (+12.5) gets the upset, 73-71.
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