The No. 11 Arizona Wildcats look to return to their winning ways as they open a crucial Pac-12 weekend home stand against the USC Trojans. Arizona, 15-3 (4-3 in the Pac-12), enters off an 87-68 blowout loss to Oregon in Eugene last Saturday. USC, 13-5 (5-2 in conference play), most recently defeated Utah 71-56 at home last weekend. The Wildcats won both of the teams' matchups last season, the first by 9 in Tucson and later by 20 on the road. USC is 10-8 against the spread, while Arizona is 6-11-1 ATS thus far in the 2022-23 season.
Tipoff is set for 9 p.m. ET at the McKale Center. The Wildcats are favored by 7.5 points in the latest Arizona vs. USC odds from Caesars Sportsbook, while the over/under is set at 153. Before entering any USC vs. Arizona picks, you'll want to see the college basketball predictions from the model at SportsLine.
The SportsLine Projection Model simulates every Division I college basketball game 10,000 times. The model enters Week 11 of the season 41-21 on all top-rated college basketball picks, returning more than $1,200 for $100 players. Anybody who has followed it has seen huge returns.
Now, the model has set its sights on USC vs. Arizona. You can head to SportsLine to see its picks. Here are several college basketball odds for Arizona vs. USC:
- Arizona vs. USC spread: Arizona -7.5
- Arizona vs. USC over/under: 153 points
- Arizona vs. USC money line: Arizona -365, Utah +285
- Arizona vs. USC picks: See picks here
Why USC can cover
Since losing its 2022-23 opener to Florida Gulf Coast, USC has turned the season around and appears to be a fringe NCAA Tournament contender presently. A win on Thursday night in Tucson would go a long way in furthering those hopes. The Trojans have won nine of their last 11 games, though in true road games this season, the Trojans are just 2-2.
USC is led by guards Boogie Ellis and Drew Peterson, who surprisingly are the only two players to average double-digit points per game on a squad that scores more than 71 PPG. Ellis (15.7 PPG) and Peterson (13.6) anchor a guard-centric lineup that also features Reese Dixon-Waters (9.9 PPG) and Tre White (9.3 PPG). Peterson is the team's leading rebounder (6.5 per game) and assists leader (4.9). For the Trojans to have a real threat to win on Thursday night, they'll likely have to keep Arizona near the 65.4 PPG USC opponents are averaging this season.
Why Arizona can cover
Though they've been mired in a recent slump, Arizona still ranks seventh nationally in scoring, at 84.8 points per game. The Wildcats 28-game home winning streak was broken two weeks ago against Washington State and they'll look to begin on a new one against the Trojans on Thursday night.
Arguably the current front runner for conference player of the year, forward Azuolas Tubelis is averaging 20.4 points and 9.0 rebounds per game for the Wildcats. He leads the conference in points per game by a wide margin (2.4 over Colorado's K.J. Simpson) and is second in rebounding behind his teammate, center Oumar Ballo (9.1 RPG). In addition to Tubelis and Ballo as conference leaders, guard Kerr Kriisa leads the Pac-12 in assists with 5.9. If Arizona plays like it did in November, it will be hard for just about any team to beat them, especially at home.
How to make USC vs. Arizona picks
The model has simulated USC vs. Arizona 10,000 times and the results are in. The model is leaning Under, and it's also generated a point-spread pick that is hitting in more than 50% of simulations. You can only see the pick at SportsLine.
So who wins USC vs. Arizona? And which side of the spread hits more than 50% of the time? Visit SportsLine to see which side of the Arizona vs. USC spread to jump on, all from the advanced model that is 41-21 on its top-rated college basketball picks this season, and find out.
