USC Trojans vs Arizona Wildcats Prediction, 1/7/2021 College Basketball Pick, Tips and Odds

Game: USC Trojans vs Arizona Wildcats

Date: Thursday, January 7, 2021

Location: McKale Center in Tucson, AZ

TV: ESPN2

Odds/Point Spread: USC (+4.5)

The Arizona Wildcats (9-1) play the USC Trojans (6-2) at McKale Center on Thursday. Arizona opens this matchup as 4.5-point favorites. The over/under has been set at 142.

USC comes into this matchup with a record of 6-2 on the season. They average 76.4 pts per game (107th in the country) while shooting 48.2% from the floor. The Trojans are hitting 36.7% on shots from distance (54 of 147) and 60.5% from the free throw line. As a unit, USC is pulling in 41.5 rebounds per game and has 116 dimes on the year, which ranks 168th in D-1 in terms of passing. They are turning it over 13.3 times per game and as a squad are committing 16.9 fouls on a nightly basis. Defensively, the Trojans are forcing 12.8 turnovers on a nightly basis while drawing 20.4 fouls. They are conceding 29.4% on shots from beyond the perimeter while they are 35th in college basketball in opponents PPG (62.5). The Trojans defensively are allowing a shooting percentage of 35.3% (179 of 507) and they surrender 34.6 boards per game as a team. They are ranked 116th in D-1 in giving up assists to their opponents with 92 surrendered for the year.

The USC Trojans took the court against the Utah Utes and walked away with a win by a score of 64-46 in their last game. USC finished with a 53.2% field goal percentage (25 out of 47) and converted 6 out of their 19 3-point shots. From the free throw line, the Trojans buried 8 of 14 shots for a rate of 57.1%. When talking about grabbing boards, they earned 38 with 6 of them being offensive. They also recorded 16 assists in this matchup as well as having 3 steals and 9 rejections. Regarding defending, USC allowed the other team to shoot 53.2% from the floor on 25 of 47 shooting. Utah earned 11 assists and had 8 steals for the contest. Furthurmore, the Utes had 27 rebounds (10 offensive, 17 defensive) and added 9 blocks. Utah went 75.0% from the free throw line by converting 9 of their 12 tries. They also converted 3 of 22 attempts from downtown.

Tahj Eaddy is one player who came through for the contest. He notched 18 points on 7 out of 16 shooting. He played 36 mins played and also grabbed 5 boards. Eaddy shot 43.8% from the floor and also totaled 5 assists. Someone else that was a factor in the matchup for the Trojans was Drew Peterson. He snagged 11 rebounds and had 2 dimes. He finished the game at 71.4% from the floor for this contest by going 5-of-7 (13 points). When the final whistle blew, Peterson saw the court for 34 minutes.

Arizona has a win-loss record of 9-1 on the season. Arizona has accounted for 793 pts so far this year (79.3 per contest) and they snag 42.6 rebounds per game. The Wildcats are committing 20.2 personal fouls every game and they connect on 69.5% from the charity stripe. As an offensive team, the Wildcats are shooting 44.9% from the field, which has them ranked 170th in college hoops. They are assisting teammates 15.2 times per contest (87th in the nation) and they turn it over 12.3 times per contest. The Wildcats on the defensive end are ranked 72nd in college basketball in PPG allowed with 64.7. The Arizona defense allows 29.4% on shots from 3-point land (63 of 214) and opponents are knocking down 69.4% of their free throw shots. They allow 11.0 assists and 31.2 rebounds per game, ranking them 63rd and 51st in those categories. They are able to force 14.3 TO's per game and have let teams shoot 39.4% from the field (49th in college hoops).

The last time they took the court, the Arizona Wildcats went home victorious with a score of 86-82 when they played the Washington State Cougars. The Wildcats were able to corral 36 defensive boards and 13 offensive boards for a total of 49 for the contest. They also blocked 4 shots while recording 8 steals for the contest. The Cougars committed 22 personal fouls in this game which got the Wildcats to the free throw line for a total of 32 shots. They were able to knock down 25 of the free throw attempts for a percentage of 78.1%. With regard to shots from downtown, Arizona made 5 of 22 tries (22.7%). When all was said and done, the Wildcats shot 28 out of 75 from the floor which gave them a shooting percentage of 37.3%. The Wildcats allowed the Cougars to make 28 out of their 69 tries from the field which gave them a shooting percentage of 40.6% in the matchup. They finished the game shooting 25.0% from downtown by shooting 7 of 28 and ended up going 19 out of 37 from the charity stripe (51.4%). When talking about how they cleaned up the glass, Arizona allowed Washington State to get 45 in total (13 offensive).

Bennedict Mathurin ended up being a major contributor for the Wildcats in the game. He converted 8 of 12 in this contest for a field goal percentage of 66.7%, which had him sitting at 24 points. Mathurin collected 11 boards in his 38 mins played and tallied 2 assists for the game. Someone else that ended being a contributor for Arizona was James Akinjo. He notched 18 points in his 44 minutes on the hardwood via 7 of 18 from the floor in this game. Akinjo walked away from this one going 38.9% from the floor while also earning 6 assists and 5 boards.

Who will win tonight's college basketball game against the spread?

Guy Bruhn's Pick: Take Arizona (-4.5)

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