Check out our free Arizona vs California pick and preview for this NCAA Basketball game in Berkeley. See who we like to win and cover the spread in this College Basketball matchup.
Arizona vs California Pick & Preview: Thursday, February 9th Betting Odds
Wildcats vs Golden Bears Matchup at a Glance
- Sport: NCAAB
- Teams: Arizona Wildcats at California Golden Bears
- Where: Berkeley at Haas Pavilion
- Date: Thursday, February 9th
- Betting Odds: Arizona -18.5, ARZ -9142 | CAH +1571 O/U 141.5
Wildcats Preview:
The Arizona Wildcats head into today’s game in what will be their 25th game of the season, posting a record of 21-3. On the road, the Wildcats will be playing their 8th game of the season, having gone 6-2. This season, Arizona has been favored to win in 24 games, sitting with a mark of 21-3. For today’s contest, Arizona has a betting line set -18.5 points in their favor.
Azuolas Tubelis comes into today’s game as the Wildcats’ leading scorer at 20.79 points per contest. Not only has Tubelis been key to the team’s scoring efforts, but he is Arizona’s top rebounder at 9.5 boards per contest. Behind Tubelis, the team has benefited from the strong play of Oumar Ballo, who is second on the team in scoring at 15.04 points per game. Overall, he has hit 65.4% of his shots and is adding 9.04 boards per game.
Arizona comes into today’s matchup vs California, looking to continue their strong offensive play, as they are averaging 84.6 points per game. Through 24 games, they have hit 49.6% of their field goal attempts. In terms of pace, the Wildcats have preferred to slow the game down, ranking 247th in possessions per game.
Golden Bears Preview:
The California Golden Bears head into today’s game in what will be their 24th game of the season, posting a record of 3-20. Currently, the Golden Bears have been the home team 14 times, sitting with a record of 3-11. So far, the Golden Bears have been the underdog 16 times, going 2-14 straight up. Heading into today’s contest, they are the +18.5 underdogs on the spread.
Lars Thiemann comes into today’s game as the Golden Bears’ leading scorer at 10.39 points per contest. Not only has Thiemann been key to the team’s scoring efforts, but he is California’s top rebounder at 5.87 boards per contest. Behind Thiemann, the team has benefited from the strong play of Kuany Kuany, who is second on the team in scoring at 9.26 points per game. Overall, he has hit 39.9% of his shots and is adding 3.3 boards per game.
Offensive production has been hard to come by for California this season, as they are currently ranked 418th in college basketball at 63.1 points per game. A major reason for low scoring totals is the fact that they have played at a below average pace, and have struggled to knock down outside shots. As a team, the Golden Bears’ 3-point shooting percentage sits at just 30.8%, placing them 424th in the NCAA.
Free Spread Prediction: Arizona Wildcats -18.5
While analyzing this matchup between the Arizona Wildcats and the California Golden Bears, we recommend choosing Arizona to come out on top and cover the spread. The oddsmakers have the Arizona as the heavy favorite with a point spread of -18.5. Not only do we like the Arizona’s historical performance as the favorite, as they are 4-1 vs the spread in their last 5 games when favored to win. But, they are matched up against a team that plays a similar style of basketball. So far, both Arizona and California are near the NCAA average in possessions per game. Before tip-off, go ahead and place your bet on the Arizona to win and cover the spread.
