Arizona Wildcats vs Connecticut Huskies Point Spread Picks

Tonight's marquee matchup features No. 3 Connecticut and No. 4 Arizona at Gampel Pavilion. Both teams are 4-0, but the Huskies are at home, where they have won seven in a row dating to last season. The Huskies come off an 86-84 win over BYU on Saturday in Boston, shooting 56.6 percent and featuring balanced scoring. Alex Karaban, Silas Demary Jr., and Tarris Reed Jr. each scored 21 points for UConn, which held on following an 11-point halftime lead. That experience against the No. 7 Cougars will come in handy against the Wildcats, who have a couple of big wins against Florida and UCLA. Anthony Dell'Orso scored 20 points against the Bruins, who hit 53 percent from 3-point range, but still came up short. UConn averages 91.0 points and 55.8 percent shooting, and it has covered eight of 10, but we'll go with Connecticut on the moneyline. 

The UConn Huskies return to the floor after an exam break, and have a key three game set coming up. Tonight it is at #18 Arizona, then onto Auburn, and their AAC opener with Wichita State. The Huskies are 7-3 on the season, but have struggled vs. some lesser teams, but own a win vs. the Pac-12's Oregon, and played tough against Syracuse. Jalen Adams and Terry Larrier give the Huskies some NBA caliber players that should be enough to allow them to stay in touch here. Arizona has some big guys in the middle, and would not be surprised to see UConn coach Kevin Ollie play some zone to close up the interior and dare the Wildcats to beat them from outside. Ollie has a tendency to stay with starters even when down a lot late, so a backdoor cover isn't out of the question either. Take the points on UConn. 

The UConn Huskies are a big surprise, catching fire to win five straight to take the Big East Tournament, and three straight to reach the Elite 8. They enter with a 29-9 mark on the season. We have an Arizona team that made Duke look like an unranked team with their shooting ability and size and athleticism inside. The Huskies have Kemba Walker and he is a weapon, but against a team that can score, rebound, and hit 3's, they are going to struggle to match baskets. The Wildcats have more athletes and an unstoppable player inside in Derrick Williams who will deny Walker the penetration and force him outside the paint where he is less effective. Take the points and play Arizona in this one.