USC TROJANS VS ARIZONA WILDCATS (-14)
With this PAC-12 matchup set to tip off at 7PM EST on ESPNU, Arizona (16-2) welcomes USC (8-12) too the McKale Center. Both these teams are looking to rebound after losing their last games; unfortunately only one will do that.
Arizona has been on the fence the last couple weeks. They haven’t been playing great basketball at home, losing their most recent game on thursday night against UCLA. Tonight I expect them to come out and send a message that they should be mentioned with the best teams in the country.
Arizona is statistically better than USC in every single category. They are scoring more points per game (75.4 PPG), allowing less points against (62.7 PPG) and getting more rebounds on both ends of the floor. In addition they are shooting the ball better, sinking more 3-pointers, and even getting more steals per game. Look for them to flex their superiority tonight, absolutely destroying USC.
For the Wildcats to cover this spread they will have to set the tone early with good defense. They have fallen away from this in their last four games, allowing three teams to score over 70 points. That shouldn’t happen in this game, the Trojans are averaging only 66.1 PPG on offense.
Mark Lyons, Solomon Hill and Nick Johnson are all averaging over 10 points per game for the Wildcats. They should lead the way in this game, helping Arizona improve too 17-2 on the season and 5-2 in conference play.
TRENDS
USC
- 2-8 against the spread in their last 10 games on the road
- 14-28 against the spread after a conference game in their last 3 years
- 8-19 against the spread after a loss against a conference rival
- 7-3 against the spread versus USC in their last 10 games
- 13-2 straight up against USC in all games played in Arizona since 1997
- 2-0 against the spread against USC across the last two seasons