Both of Friday night’s Pac-12 Tournament semifinal games carry plenty of March Madness bubble watch implications. In the second matchup, the 6-seed Arizona Sun Devils will attempt to remove any remaining doubt as far as their at-large bid outlook when they face the 2-seed Arizona Wildcats. The latest Arizona State vs Arizona college basketball betting picks view the higher seed as a considerable favorite.
The following game preview provides the college basketball betting odds, trends and KenPom ratings before sharing our official Arizona State vs Arizona prediction for the Pac-12 Tournament semifinal matchup.
Arizona State vs Arizona Prediction | College Basketball Betting Picks
Pac-12 Tournament Semifinal
(6) Arizona State Sun Devils (22-11, 11-9 Pac-12) vs. (2) Arizona Wildcats (26-6, 14-6 Pac-12)
Time: Approx. 11:30 p.m. EST
Venue: T-Mobile Arena — Las Vegas, NV
Coverage: ESPN
Arizona State Sun Devils Preview
Arizona State entered the Pac-12 Tournament as the 6-seed and firmly on the NCAA bubble. While the Sun Devils picked up a number of quality wins during the regular season, a few bad losses and a middle-of-the-pack finish in conference play were holding them back. After dispatching Oregon State in the First Round, Bobby Hurley’s team has made a strong case for an at-large bid by upsetting 3-seed USC. Beating Arizona for a second time on Friday would likely ensure ASU’s inclusion in the NCAA tourney.
Arizona Wildcats Preview
Arizona’s quest to repeat as Pac-12 Tournament champs began with an 11-point win over Stanford in the Quarterfinal Round on Thursday. The Wildcats overwhelmed Stanford inside as Azuolas Tubelis Oumar Ballo combined for 44 points and 14 rebounds. It was certainly a nice bounce-back for a team that dropped two of its final three regular season games. Tommy Lloyd’s team would certainly love to bolster its NCAA seeding with a deep run in Las Vegas.
Arizona State vs Arizona College Basketball Betting Picks and Odds
College basketball betting odds for Arizona State vs Arizona can be found at BetOnline Sportsbook.
Moneyline: ASU: (+270) | ARI: (-325)
Point Spread: ASU: +7.5 (-115) | ARI: -7.5 (-105)
Total: 154 — Over: (-110) | Under: (-110)
College Basketball KenPom Ratings
The following table displays the KenPom adjusted efficiency ratings for the two teams involved in Friday’s second Pac-12 Tournament Semifinal. In addition to overall efficiency margin, offensive, defensive and tempo ratings are included.
Team | Overall AdjEM (Rk) | AdjO (Rk) | AdjD (Rk) | AdjT (Rk) |
Arizona State | +12.89 (62) | 108.1 (121) | 95.2 (27) | 68.7 (120) |
Arizona | +22.02 (10) | 120.5 (4) | 98.5 (55) | 72.8 (6) |
Arizona State vs Arizona College Basketball Betting Trends
- Sun Devils are just 1-6 ATS in their last seven games following an ATS win.
- The OVER is 12-1 in the Sun Devils’ last 13 games following a straight up win.
- Wildcats are 5-0 ATS in their last five games after scoring more than 90 points in their previous game.
- Each of the Wildcats’ last four games has gone OVER the total.
- Outright winners have also covered ATS in four of the last five Arizona State vs Arizona head-to-head meetings.
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Arizona State vs Arizona Prediction | College Basketball Betting Picks
These in-state rivals split a pair of regular-season meetings as each team won on the other’s home floor. Arizona was victorious in Tempe in a low-scoring affair back on New Year’s Eve before Arizona State returned the favor with a one-point victory in Tucson two weeks ago.
As far as Friday’s Pac-12 Tournament semifinal is concerned, three-point shooting figures to be a huge part of Arizona State’s offense. Of course, this isn’t exactly abnormal for a team that boasts talented guards and lacks much in the way of size down low. The Sun Devils were able to knock down 14 triples in their upset over USC on Thursday and had 11 in their win over the Wildcats last month.
ASU’s ability to get hot from distance will also be critical with regard to the game total in tonight’s matchup. A big reason why the first head-to-head meeting between these teams was such a low-scoring game was the fact that the Sun Devils only shot 3-28 from three-point range. With this being their third game in as many days, it’s worth pondering whether fatigue could play a factor, especially in the second half.
With the fourth-ranked adjusted offense and sixth-fastest adjusted tempo, KenPom certainly projects Arizona as an Over team. However, Arizona State will no doubt try to slow down the pace whenever possible and lean on its backcourt tandem of Desmond Cambridge Jr. and DJ Horne to make plays. Provided that the Sun Devils can adequately defend Azuolas Tubelis and Arizona’s bigs in the post, there’s a real chance that the game falls short of the lofty total.
UNDER THE TOTAL will be our official college basketball betting Arizona State vs Arizona prediction for the Pac-12 Tournament Semifinal Round matchup.
For what it’s worth, the ESPN Matchup Predictor gives Arizona a 77.2% chance to win this game outright.
Bet: UNDER 154 (-110 at BetOnline Sportsbook)