Arizona vs. Colorado Betting Line – February 24
Carrie Stroup here with your Arizona vs. Colorado betting line for Wednesday February 24 Arizona -5, Total: 144
ARIZONA WILDCATS (22-5) at COLORADO BUFFALOES (19-9)
No. 9 Arizona looks to hold onto the top spot in the Pac-12 standings with its seventh straight win as it visits Colorado.
The Wildcats (15-12 ATS) visit Colorado on Wednesday night with the Buffaloes looking for their seventh straight Pac-12 home win. Colorado is 14-1 SU at the Coors Events Center (7-5 ATS) but have dropped their last four contests away from Boulder. Arizona is 5-3 SU (5-3 ATS) on the road this season, most recently sweeping the Washington schools away from home.
Colorado comes off an empty road trip against USC and UCLA, most recently getting walloped 77-53 (Colorado +5) at UCLA on Saturday. Colorado is 1-5 ATS in its last six games.
Arizona will have had a week off since their last game, a 99-61 pasting of rival Arizona State in the McKale Center on Feb. 17th. Arizona has owned this series with an 8-2 SU record since 2012 (5-5 ATS) and have won the last five games overall against Colorado. The Wildcats have won the last two contests in Boulder and are 2-2 SU (3-1 ATS) when visiting Colorado since the Buffaloes joined the Pac-12 conference.
Most recently these two teams played in Boulder last February with Arizona winning in a romp (82-54) as a nine-point favorite. While the total has gone UNDER in five of Colorado’s last seven games, the total has also gone OVER in four of Colorado’s last five home games.
Coming off of a week’s worth of rest, Arizona travels to face the struggling Buffaloes who are starving to return home after a winless trip to Los Angeles. The Wildcats are 10-2 SU (7-5 ATS) with 3+ days rest this season and come off of their biggest in-conference blowout this season after toying with Arizona State en route to 57% FG and a +24 rebounding margin last Wednesday. Coach Sean Miller’s group is finally playing up to his expectations as they’ve reeled off six straight to sit atop the conference standings (tied with Oregon).
The Wildcats have won each of their last four games since getting G Allonzo Trier (14.8 PPG) back from injury and Trier has been a big part of that by averaging 17.3 PPG over his last three games. Trier is so important to the Arizona attack (82 PPG vs D1 opponents) because he’s the only perimeter player who can create his own offense off the dribble and manufacture points from the charity stripe; Trier is 22-26 from the line over his past three games.
F Ryan Anderson (15.8 PPG, 10.2 RPG) is one of two players in the Pac-12 averaging a double-double although his prowess on the glass hasn’t been needed with only 14 rebounds over his past two games. Colorado plays through its frontcourt, so how Anderson and C Kaleb Tarczewski (9.5 PPG, 9 RPG) stack up in their individual battles with Josh Scott and Wesley Gordon of the Buffaloes will be a big barometer of success for Arizona. Tarczewski is averaging 11.8 RPG over his last five games.
On the perimeter, G Gabe York (14.7 PPG, 42% 3PT) is one of the better marksmen in the conference and leads the Pac-12 in 3PM (2.7 per game).
Colorado looks to bounce back from a sour road trip as they enter the friendly confines of the Coors Events Center where they average 83.2 PPG (as compared to 69.5 PPG on the road). The Buffaloes shot just 31% FG in their most recent blowout loss to UCLA, while allowing the Bruins to shoot 50% FG and 55% 3PT.
Opponents shoot lots of threes against the Buffaloes (17.8 3PA) because of three reasons: One is that the Buffaloes just aren’t that effective at defending the perimeter (35.8% 3PT), and reasons two and three are in the form of forwards Josh Scott (16.4 PPG, 8.9 RPG, 1.7 BPG) and Wesley Gordon (7.6 PPG, 7.3 RPG, 2.1 BPG) packing the paint, as it’s tough to convert inside on the Buffaloes (5.1 BPG, 28th NCAA; 44.4% FG allowed on two-pointers, 34th NCAA).
Scott is the key to the Buffaloes, as he still doesn’t look to be 100% from an ankle injury that kept him out for two games at home against Washington and Washington State two weeks ago. While Scott did play 32 minutes at UCLA, he only put up 9 points on 4-12 FG.
Gordon steps up when Scott is absent (double-doubles against Washington and Washington State) but fades to the background when Scott returns (only 3 double-doubles all season with Scott in the active lineup).
Colorado gets inconsistent perimeter scoring from guards George King (13.9 PPG, 45% 3PT) and Josh Fortune (10.2 PPG, 39% 3PT), who both boast respectable perimeter numbers but can be feast or famine on a game-to-game basis in the box score. King is 5-17 3PT over his past five games while Fortune is 4-19 3PT over that same span.
Yet, the Buffaloes’ biggest issue lately has been turnovers, as nobody has stepped up to claim a role all season as a true floor leader and point guard. At 14.1 TO/game (297th NCAA), coach Tad Boyle actually benched three starting guards after the mid-week loss at USC due to 20 turnovers, only to have his new lineup cut down on the turnovers (11) at the expense of getting exposed on defense by UCLA’s perimeter shooting.
- Carrie Stroup, Gambling911.com Senior Reporter
