#1 Wildcats Visit USC on Sunday Night
The Arizona Wildcats will play their second game in a row in Los Angeles with a chance to improve to 17-0 which would be the best start in their illustrious school history. Arizona has been to several Final Fours including winning the 1997 NCAA Tournament, but have never gone 17-0 to start a season. With the easier half of the L. A. back-to-back tonight, this would seem like a slam dunk. The Wildcats survived a scare for the crosstown UCLA Bruins on Thursday night before winning the game to go 16-0. They led by 14 points with 6:00 to go and actually found themselves down one before grabbing the lead back with just under a minute left to hang on to a 79-75 win.
Nick Johnson led the Cats with 22 points and three others finished in double figures including Kaleb Tarczewski with 16 points. Kaleb led the Cats with eight rebounds in the game as well. Arizona is now one of only three unbeatens in Division I basketball. The Wichita State Shockers and Wisconsin Badgers are the other two.
USC is in its first season under former Florida Gulf Coast Eagles coach Andy Enfield and stand at 9-6 so far. The Trojans are 0-2 in the PAC 12 after being thumped by the Bruins and then the Arizona State Sun Devils in their first two games. Beating the Wildcats will be a tough task for the young Trojans. They are led by Byron Wesley who averages nearly 18 points per game.
How hard has Los Angeles been on the Wildcats? Plenty. They are 4-13 in their last 17 games played in the city. 2004-05 was the last season they beat both the Bruins and Trojans on the road. They have failed to win a PAC 12 Tournament played in Los Angeles the last 10 times it has been held there. The cherry on top was being knocked out of the NCAA Tournament by the Ohio State Buckeyes in the Staples Center last season.
If the Wildcats get past this L.A. double dip, one has to wonder if they can go unbeaten in the regualr season. The Oregon Ducks, Stanford Cardinal, Colorado Buffaloes and the Sun Devils will have something to say bout that. The Buffs got some bad news today though when star guard Spencer Dinwiddie went down with an injury.
Sportsbook has Arizona -13.5 -110 and USC +13.5 -110 ATS. Moneyline has the Wildcats -1200 and USC +750. Over/Under is 138.5 with over and under both -110.
We like the Wildcats to win in a rout. USC is just not ready yet for the big time. They won’t be any match for the #1 Wildcats. Take the Wildcats -13.5 and the over -110.
