The No. 12 Arizona Wildcats set their sights on extending their two-game run to three when they travel to California for an intriguing encounter with the Stanford Cardinal, who have won five of their previous seven games. Can the Wildcats succeed in doing so? Or will the Cardinal take care of business at home?
Read on below for a comprehensive breakdown of this appetizing showdown. And while you’re at it check out our preview of the Kentucky Wildcats vs. Arkansas Razorbacks.
[sc:MarchMadness ]Arizona Wildcats vs. Stanford Cardinal Preview
Where: Maples Pavilion, Stanford, CA
When: Thursday, January 21, 2016, 11:00 PM ET
Line: Arizona Wildcats (-5.5) at Stanford Cardinal (+5.5) – view all NCAA Basketball lines
TV Broadcast: PACN
Betting on the Arizona Wildcats (15-3, 3-2 Pac-12)
[sc:NCAAB240banner ] Talk about redemption. The Arizona Wildcats followed up back-to-back losses by defeating Washington and Washington State by an average margin of 28 points. What’s more impressive is that they did this even without one of their best players in Allonzo Trier, who’s still recovering from a broken hand.
A testament to their current success is the pair of Ryan Anderson and Gabe York. The two wasted no time in filling in the void left by Trier’s absence by leading the charge on offense.
Anderson, in particular, shined brightest with averages of 18.0 points and 8.5 rebounds in his last two games. York, meanwhile, is posting 11.5 points and has gone 5-for-12 from the three-point line in the same stretch.
Apart from Anderson and York, the Wildcats have been receiving much-needed contributions from Kaleb Tarczewski. Tarczewski enters this game having tallied three double-doubles in the past five games. That stretch includes their game versus USC on January 9, wherein the 22-year-old senior center delivered season-bests of 16 points and 13 rebounds.
Having said all of this, the 12th-ranked Wildcats seem to have proven to everyone that they can still be a dangerous team even without Trier. They should be able to impose their will on the Stanford Cardinal, who are allowing 67.9 points per game and a 43.4 opponents’ shooting percentage, as long as they continue to provide collective efforts on both sides of the court.
Arizona is 6-4 SU and ATS in its last 10 road games.
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Betting on the Stanford Cardinal (10-6, 3-2 Pac-12)
Double-double performances from Rosco Allen and Marcus Allen proved to be just enough to help the Stanford Cardinal get back on track against the Cal Golden Bears last Thursday night, 77-71.
Rosco, the Cardinal’s top-point getter (14.6), had a game-high of 22 points and 10 rebounds in 37 minutes of play. Marcus, on the other hand, contributed 16 points and a season-best of 10 boards across his name. Both will have to sustain their respective form when they play host to the No. 12 Arizona Wildcats, who are yielding 81.0 points in the past five games, tonight.
Other than those two, the Cardinal can expect some production from sophomore guard Dorian Pickens as well. Pickens has finished in double figures in two of his last three games and is currently the team’s third-leading scorer with 11.6 points per contest heading into this matchup.
Defense, meanwhile, will arguably be the deciding-factor in this match. Stanford will look to hold off one of the top offensive teams in the league today. Arizona is putting up 83.0 points per game this season, which is good for third-highest in the Pac-12 and 18th in the country.
Stanford is 7-3 SU and 5-4 ATS in its last 10 games at home.
Writer’s Prediction
Arizona (-5.5) wins by double-digits. Create a betting account now and build a winning college basketball parlay.
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