Washington St Cougars at Arizona Wildcats, McKale Center, Tucson, AZ
Thursday, February 17, 2011, 8:30 pm Eastern, TV: Fox Sports Net
Opening Line: Arizona -8 1/2
Current Line: Arizona -8
Opening Total: 140 1/2
Current Total: 143
Money Line: Arizona -400 / WSU +330
These two Pac-10 rivals played January 2 in Pullman. Arizona escaped with a 65-63 victory. That game sent the Wildcats on a 6 game winning streak to surge ahead of UCLA and Washington in the Pac-1o standings. Washington St meanwhile has alternated wins and losses since that game. Arizona is #12 in the AP poll and #13 in the ESPN coaches’ poll. Arizona is 21-4 overall and 10-2 in the Pac-10. Washington St is 17-8 overall and 7-6 in conference as they travel to Tucson for the rematch. The Wildcats have wins over Oklahoma, NC State, Oregon, Cal twice, Stanford twice, Arizona St twice, UCLA, and USC. Arizona beat their in-state rivals Arizona St 67-52 in Tempe Sunday night. Arizona has losses to Kansas, BYU, Oregon St, and Washington on the season. All losses are on the road, as the Wildcats are undefeated at home. Washington St has wins over Gonzaga, Mississippi St, Baylor, Oregon, Oregon St twice, Stanford, Cal, Arizona st and Washington. They won at home versus Cal Saturday 75-71. The Cougars have losses to Kansas St, Butler, USC, UCLA, Cal, Stanford, and Oregon, in addition to the Arizona loss.
Arizona dominates the overall series 52-16, including 25-8 in Tucson. Washington St has won and covered 3 of the last 5 meetings, and 3 of those meetings have gone under the total as well. The Cougars are 6-15 ATS versus teams scoring 77 points a game in the last 3 seasons.
Washington St forward DeAngelo Casto is listed as probable with an ankle injury against Arizona. The Cougars are led by guard Klay Thompson. He is averaging 20.6 points, 5.2 rebounds, 4.2 assists, 1.9 steals, and 1.1 steals a game. He leads the team in scoring, assists, and steals. Guard Faisal Aden averages 13.3 points, 3.4 rebounds, 1.4 assists, and 1.5 steals a game. Casto averages 11.2 points, 6.4 rebounds, and 1.7 blocks a game. He leads the team in rebounds and blocks. Washington St is outscoring opponents 73-66 on the season. The Cougars are shooting 46.5% from the field and 35.4% from 3-point range. The Cougs are holding opponents to 38.7% shooting from the field. Washington St shoots 69.5% from the free throw line. Washington St averages 34.8 rebounds a game with a rebounding margin of -1.5. They average 13.8 assists and 12.9 turnovers a game. They force 15.2 turnovers a game on defense. The Cougars average 7.2 steals and 4 blocks a game.
Arizona is healthy right now with no injuries. They are led by sophomore forward Derrick Williams. He leads the Wildcats in almost every statistical category except assists. He is averaging 19.2 points a game, 8 rebounds, 1 assists, and 0.9 steals and 0.6 blocks a game. Though he doesn’t shoot a lot of 3-pointers he has hit 25 out of 36 from beyond the arc, or a 69.4% success rate. Guard Lamont Jones averages 9.4 points, 1.6 rebounds, and 2.6 assists a game. Guard Kyle Fogg is averaging 8.6 points, 1.8 rebounds, 2.8 assists to lead the team and 0.9 steals a game. Forward Solomon Hill averages 7.8 points, 4.4 rebounds, 1.8 assists, and 0.9 steals a game. Arizona is outscoring opponents 78-66 this season. The Wildcats are shooting 48.1% from the field and 40.8% from 3-point range. Arizona holds opponents to 42.7% shooting from the field. The ‘Cats make 74.4% of their free throws. Arizona averages 35.4 rebounds a game and has a rebounding margin of +5.2. Arizona averages 14.7 assists and 13.6 turnovers a game. They force 13.1 turnovers a game on defense. Arizona averages 2.6 blocks and 5.3 steals a game.
Washington St’s resume probably isn’t impressive enough to gain an at large bid to the NCAA tournament without winning the Pac-10 tournament. Arizona might overlook this team as they have a showdown with Washington looming Saturday, but they can’t afford to overlook this dangerous Cougar team. Washington St’s strength is defense but I don’t know if they can slow down the Wildcat’s offense. I like Arizona in this game.
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