Arizona Hosts Utah in Pac-12 Showdown, Gonzaga plays BYU

Saturday’s lineup of college basketball has a number of important conference matchups. In one, the No. 7 ranked Arizona Wildcats visits the No. 13 ranked Utah Utes in a Pac-12 showdown of heavyweights.

This game could decide the winner of the Pac-12. Both teams are evenly matched even if the Wildcats routed the Utes by 18 points in January.

Utah is currently favored at home by 1.5 points. The Utes are 22-5 straight up and 19-7 against the spread on the season. Arizona on the season is 25-3 SU and 17-11 ATS. Utah has the third best ATS record in the nation at 19-7, while Arizona is not far behind. Over the past 10 games played, Utah is 7-3 ATS and Arizona 8-2 ATS.

Both teams have very strong offenses, but both are also highly ranked when it comes to defense. Utah allows just 55 points per game and three straight games for Utah have cashed on the UNDER.

However, in the first head to head game this season, Arizona hit close to 50% of its shots and easily covered a favorite spread at home of 5.5 points. The biggest stat in the first game between the two was the dominance by Arizona on the boards as the Wildcats out rebounded Utah 40-19. Of Arizona’s 40 rebounds, 17 were on the offensive end.

Both teams have scorers with six threats for Arizona offensively and five for Utah. The top three scorers for Arizona are all forwards, while Utah’s top two players offensively are guards.

With a small spread, one thing to keep in mind is the outings Utah has had versus top teams. The Utes have lost to San Diego State, Kansas and Arizona. The best win of the season for Utah was a narrow one over Wichita State in overtime.

Utah holds its opponents to 56 points each game, while Arizona allows its opponents to only score 58.

Utah was in control of the pace in the first game even though Arizona routed them by 18 points. The UNDER was 126 in the first meeting between the two teams, and it cashed.

Pick: the UNDER and Arizona to cover

Another big matchup out west features No. 3 Gonzaga versus unranked BYU. Gonzaga is favored at home by 12 points.

In the past five games, BYU has covered the number each time. During the season, the Cougars have been underdogs just three times and all three times have not covered the number.

Four straight BYU game have gone under. Gonzaga holds opponent to 38% shooting. This sounds like a recipe for and UNDER with Utah covering.