Cat Fight – Arizona Wildcats at Washington State Cougars

Arizona Wildcats (18-9 SU, 16-11 ATS) at Washington State Cougars (14-13 SU, 9-16 ATS)

BetOnline NCAAB Odds: WASHINGTON STATE -2

Here are some of the NCAA basketball sports betting trends as they relate to this matchup:

* ARIZ has won and covered seven of its last eight games

* ARIZ has played seven of its last eight games OVER the total

* ARIZ has lost eight of its last ten road games SU

* ARIZ has played four of its last five road games OVER the total

* WSU has lost five of its last seven games SU

* WSU has covered two of its last seven games

* WSU has played four of its last six games UNDER the total

* WSU has lost five of its last seven home games SU

* WSU has played six of its last seven home games UNDER the total

Also…

* ARIZ has won six of the last eight meetings SU

* Five of the last six meetings have gone OVER the total

* ARIZ has had the rebounding edge in four of the last five meetings

* WSU has made more three-pointers in eight of the last ten meetings

If you’re wondering whether we expect Washington State to be offering another offensive explosion like they did on Saturday, when they scored 82 points and shot 59% against UCLA, no we don’t. However, that is not to say that kind of accuracy from the field is unknown to this club. In the last five games, they have shot 56% or better three times, and have been hitting more three-pointers lately.

Taylor Rochestie, the Washington State point guard, has shot 50% in his last seven games. That includes the previous meeting with Arizona, a 66-56 loss in Tucson on January 31. He scored 22 points in that game, and 33 in his last effort against UCLA. Of course, his Cougars needed every one of those points to eke out the 82-81 win.

Arizona has won seven of its last eight games and the only loss was by a 70-68 margin at 14th-ranked Arizona State on Sunday. They should probably have sealed up an NCAA bid with that winning streak, but the thing that bothers us is that you can’t find a lot of quality wins on this Arizona schedule. Sure, there are the outstanding individual players, like Jordan Hill (18 ppg, 11.1 rpg) and Chase Budinger (17.8 ppg, 6.6 rpg), but winning at Corvallis and Eugene does not exactly convince us that the ‘Cats are fully capable of going up to Pullman and go toe-to-toe with a team that not only knows how to control the pace, and allows only 50.4 ppg at home (best in the nation), but has started to shoot better.

Sure, Arizona has some fundamental edges, particularly Hill down low, but Aron Baynes can keep him busy, and freshman Klay Thompson has asserted himself more in the offense of late. Wazzou does not turn it over much (11.1 TO’s/game), so ‘Zona will have to get everything by itself. We’ll lay the points with Washington State, the two-point favorite in the BetOnline NCAA college basketball sports betting odds.

JAY’S PLAY: WASHINGTON STATE -2 **

(Graded on a scale of 1-4 stars)

(Charles Jay makes his share of shots from downtown as a contributor to the BetOnline Locker Room)