The No. 9 Arizona Wildcats’ hopes of a Pac-12 regular season title three-peat are in some peril. The Wildcats have just three games left to claw back a one-game deficit on the Oregon Ducks atop the conference. However, one of those three games must see the ‘Cats travel to Salt Lake City to face the No. 22 Utah Utes.
The Utes have historically been unable to tame the Wildcats, but can Jakob Poeltl and co. finally get one over on the Pac-12 powerhouse?
Check out our preview of this top Pac-12 matchup below. Meanwhile, get reay for more of Saturday’s stacked lineup of NCAA basketball action with our previews of North Carolina vs. Virginia and Louisville vs. Miami (FL).
Betting on the Arizona Wildcats (22-6, 10-5 Pac-12)
Arizona’s six-game win streak game to an end on Wednesday as they were clipped by Colorado, 75-72, on the road. Leading scorer Gabe York (14.5 PPG) had a rough outing as he was held to 11 points on 4-of-14 shooting.
The Wildcats have had their struggles on the road, where they’ve lost four of their five conference games this season. However, three of those losses – at UCLA (87-84), USC (103-101) and Cal (74-73) – were all by just three points or fewer.
Scoring isn’t too much of an issue for Arizona. The Wildcats are averaging 81.7 points per game this season (20th in the nation), but during conference play that number’s gone up to 87.1 PPG. They should be able to put their share of points up against a stingy Utes defense.
The Wildcats actually haven’t topped 80 points on Utah since the Utes became part of the Pac-12 in 2012, but that hasn’t stopped Arizona’s one-sided domination of this series. The ‘Cats are 13-1 in 14 meetings all-time against Utah, and are 4-0 ATS in their last four.
After getting swept in their Oregon road trip to start the month, the Utah Utes have responded with a five-game winning streak that includes sweeps of the two Washington schools as well as the two Southern California schools (USC and UCLA).
The Utes are coming off a truly dominant defensive display on Thursday against Arizona State. They built up a 30-2 lead and gave up just 10 total first half points en route to an 81-46 win. After losing their first conference home game against Oregon, the Utes have gone 6-0 (4-2 ATS) in their last six in Salt Lake City.
Jakob Poeltl wasn’t required to do much scoring in the blowout against the Sun Devils, but he has been close to unstoppable in conference play. The star sophomore is averaging 22 points and nine rebounds in his last nine games.
With Poeltl’s emergence, Utah has actually been more effective on the offensive end than on defense this season. Although, the Utes are still No. 1 in scoring defense during conference play (67.1 points allowed per game). Poeltl’s ability to put points on the board should help the Utes hang with the Wildcats’ prolific attack.
Writer’s Prediction
Arizona’s dominance of Utah continues as the Wildcats win, 82-77.
