Utah Utes vs Arizona Wildcats Prediction, 2/26/2025 College Basketball Picks, Best Bets & Odds

Game: Utah Utes vs Arizona Wildcats

Date: Wednesday, February 26, 2025

Location: McKale Center in Tempe, AZ

TV: ESPN+

The Utah Utes (15-12) are hitting the road to McKale Center on Wednesday where they will go up against the Arizona Wildcats (18-9).

The Utah Utes stepped onto the hardwood against UCF and ended up losing by a score of 76-72 in their last game. When discussing fouls, the Utes finished with 17 and UCF finished the game with 9 fouls. They also converted 6 of their 24 shots from 3-point range. UCF shot 75.0% from the charity stripe by making 12 of their 16 tries. Furthermore, UCF grabbed 28 boards (12 offensive, 16 defensive), but wasn't able to record a block. UCF recorded 12 assists and had 13 steals in the matchup. In reference to defense, Utah allowed the other team to go 44.6% from the field on 29 out of 65 shooting. They also distributed 18 assists in this matchup as well as forcing 8 turnovers and getting 6 steals. When it comes to pulling down boards, they earned 32 with 9 of them being offensive. At the charity stripe, the Utes converted 8 of 10 attempts for a percentage of 80.0%. Utah finished with a 50.9% FG percentage (28 out of 55) and buried 8 of 24 three-point attempts.

Gabe Madsen is one guy who was a major contributor in the game. He scored 23 points on 8 out of 12 shooting. He played for 32 minutes and grabbed 3 rebounds. He walked away from this one shooting 66.7% from the floor and earned 1 assist.

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Utah enters this one with a record of 15-12 for the year. They are losing possession via turnover 12.6 times per contest and as a group they are committing 18.3 fouls per game. As a team, Utah is grabbing 39.4 boards per contest and has earned 483 assists this year, which is 16th in the country in terms of passing the rock. The Utes are hitting 33.2% on three-point shots (229 of 689) and 63.0% from the charity stripe. They average 75.1 pts per game (143rd in the nation) while hitting 45.4% from the floor.

On defense, the Utes are able to force 11.0 turnovers every game while drawing 17.9 fouls. They are ranked 123rd in college hoops in giving up assists with 349 conceded so far this season. The Utes defense is giving up a field goal percentage of 41.2% (666 of 1,617) and they surrender 34.5 boards per game as a unit. They are giving up 33.3% from beyond the arc while they are 144th in the nation in PPG allowed (70.8).

When they last stepped on the court, the Arizona Wildcats took a loss by a score of 96-95 when they faced BYU. The Wildcats snagged 19 defensive boards and 13 offensive boards for a total of 32 in the game. They gave up possession of the ball 14 times, while getting 8 steals in this game. BYU earned 21 personal fouls for this contest which got the Wildcats to the free throw line for 25 shots. They were able to make 21 of them for a clip of 84.0%. When it comes to shots from downtown, Arizona buried 10 of 22 attempts (45.5%). When the final whistle blew, the Wildcats shot 32 out of 59 from the floor which gave them a shooting percentage of 54.2%. The Wildcats permitted BYU to convert 36 of 65 tries from the field which left them with a rate of 55.4% in the matchup. They finished 45.2% from distance by going 14 of 31 and finished the contest at 10 out of 14 from the free throw line (71.4%). With respect to how they rebounded, Arizona allowed BYU to snag 20 in all (8 offensive).

Caleb Love pitched in for the Wildcats in the game. He converted 7 out of 16 in this game for a rate of 43.8%, and had 3 rebounds. He scored 27 points in his 38 mins of playing time and had 5 dimes for the contest.

Arizona has a win-loss mark of 18-9 this season. As an offensive team, the Wildcats are shooting 47.3% from the field, which is ranked 53rd in Division 1. Arizona has scored 2,202 pts on the campaign (81.6 per contest) and they collect 40.5 rebounds per game. They are dishing out assists 17.2 times per game (15th in Division 1) and they turn it over 12.0 times per contest. The Wildcats have committed 16.3 personal fouls per contest and they connect on 77.5% from the charity stripe.

The Wildcats on defense are ranked 137th in the nation in points per game surrendered with 70.4. They are able to force 12.4 TO's per game and have let teams shoot 40.9% from the field (42nd in college hoops). The Arizona defense allows 31.9% from downtown (224 of 702) and their opponents are knocking down 70.0% of their free throw shots. They concede 13.3 assists and 32.4 rebounds per game, which is ranked 194th and 65th in D-1.

Who will win tonight's NCAA game against the spread?

Guy Bruhn's Pick: Take Arizona

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