A pair of teams riding hot against-the-spread streaks - Ohio State Buckeyes and Arizona Wildcats - clash Thursday in West Regional semifinal action.
Arizona is 5-0 ATS in its past five tournament games and 13-3 ATS in its past 16 games as an underdog. The No. 6 seeded Wildcats face the Buckeyes, who are 8-2 ATS in their past 10 games and have won nine in a row as a favorite.
Ohio State slipped past Iowa State 78-75 in the Round of 32 on Sunday afternoon, failing to cover the 7.5-point spread at the sportsbooks in the contest. Arizona is coming off a 74-51 win over underdog Harvard in which they were 10.5-point favorites.
Ohio State will face the 27-7 Wildcats, who own a 16-16 ATS mark on the season. In totals betting, the Buckeyes are 13-18-1 favoring the UNDER so far this season while the Wildcats are 11-19-1 favoring the OVER.
View Arizona vs Ohio State Odds and Stats.
Betting Line:
The Wildcats were listed as 3.5-point underdogs at many online sportsbooks, including Sportsbook. The total was 134 earlier at Sportsbook.
Power Rankings / Prediction:
The power rankings show a disparity between these teams, with the Buckeyes rated this week at No. 22 and the Wildcats sitting at No. 31. It may or may not play a role in Odds Shark score prediction modelling that produced a 78-77 result in favor of the Buckeyes.
How They Match Up:
Scoring and defensive stats point to some edges in this matchup. The game features Ohio State's No. 103-ranked scoring average of 70.3 PPG, against a Wildcats defense rated No. 91 and allowing 63.3 PPG. The Buckeyes FG% has averaged 45.6% to date this season, almost the same as the Wildcats shooters have managed so far (45.6% per game).
Defensively, Arizona features the nation's No. 45-rated defense on the road, allowing 63.6 points per game. Ohio State, meanwhile, comes in at No. 103 nationally in scoring at home.
In their last action, Arizona was a 74-51 Sportsbook at home against Harvard. They covered the 10.5-point spread as favorites. The Wildcats blew out Harvard on Saturday, running up a 20+ point victory in a 74-51 win at EnergySolutions Arena.
Ohio State won its last outing, a 78-75 result against Iowa State on March 24. They failed to cover in that game as a 7.5-point favorite. The Buckeyes grabbed a 78-75 win over the Cyclones on Sunday, behind a 22-point effort from Deshaun Thomas at Dayton Arena.
Arizona Wildcats Trends:
When playing on Thursday are 5-5
After a win are 7-3
Ohio State Buckeyes Trends:
When playing on Thursday are 6-4
After playing Iowa State are 1-1
After a win are 9-1
A few Wildcats at Buckeyes trends to consider:
Ohio State is 5-0 SU in its last 5 games
The total has gone UNDER in 7 of Ohio State's last 10 games
