NCAA Weekend Preview: Arizona and Purdue Headline Strong Slate
Seven Teams Ranked In the Top 10 In the National Polls Will Be In Action on Saturday
The No. 1 Ranking Will Be At Stake When Arizona Meets Purdue
When looking at the NCAAB weekend preview, seven of the top 10 teams in the national polls will be in action on Saturday with none of the 16 teams featuring ranked teams more compelling than the showdown between No. 1 Arizona and No. 3 Purdue.
No. 2 Kansas, No. 4 Houston, No. 6 Baylor, No. 8 Creighton, No. 9 North Carolina, No. 11 Oklahoma, No. 12 Tennessee, No. 13 Clemson and No. 14 Oklahoma will hit the court on a special day around the nation.
Arizona received 90 of 95 first-place votes to remain at No. 1 in both the Associated Press and USA Today Coaches polls. Kansas is second and UConn fifth in both polls with Purdue third in the Associated Press poll and fourth in the coaches poll with Houston flipping spots with the Boilermakers. Oklahoma had the biggest jump, going from 19th to 11th in the AP poll and moving up 10 spots to No. 12 in the coaches poll.
When looking at the odds to win March Madness, Purdue and Arizona are tied at +1000 for the best odds of winning the national championship with Kansas and Kentucky not far behind at +1400.
Here’s a look at some of the top games as the NCAAB scores from Saturday are sure to shake up the college basketball landscape.
No. 1 Arizona Wildcats vs No. 3 Purdue Boilermakers
Date, time:
Streaming: Live Sports Stream
Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis will be the site when two of the top three teams in the country clash for the first time since
2017 when Purdue won 89-64 as a one-point underdog.
Arizona comes into the game with an 8-0 record that includes wins over ranked Duke, Michigan State and Wisconsin teams. The Wildcats are also the only Division I men’s team that has covered against the college basketball betting lines in every game this season with Purdue 6-2-2 ATS.
Purdue has won games against Iowa and Alabama since a loss to Northwestern.
It is somewhat of a homecoming for Arizona sophomore guard Kylan Boswell, a native of Champaign, Illinois.
Purdue’s Zach Edey, who is averaging 24.8 and 10.8 rebounds per game, is the front-runner for the national player of the year according to the college basketball odds.
Arizona is putting up 94 points per game on 51.5% shooting with North Carolina transfer Caleb Love one of five double-digit scorers. Keep that in mind when it comes to the NCAAB weekend preview.
Other Top Games to Watch
LSU Tigers vs No. 19 Texas Longhorns
Date, time:
The last meeting against a Big 12 team did not go well for LSU with a 75-60 loss to Kansas State. Despite not facing a ranked team, LSU already has four losses. When looking at the NCAAB weekend preview, this could be a tall task for the Tigers.
Texas bounced back from a loss to Marquette in the Big East-Big 12 Battle by rolling past Houston Christian.
Max Abmas leads the Longhorns with an average of 17.6 points per game. Texas is last in the Big 12 with a 4-6 mark against the spread.
Texas freshman forward Devon Pryor will be playing in his hometown of Houston.
No. 2 Kansas Jayhawks at Indiana Hoosiers
Date, time:
Kansas already owns a win over reigning national champion UConn and now faces another former title-winning team even though the Hoosiers are unranked coming into the game in another intriguing matchup as part of the NCAAB weekend preview.
Michigan transfer Hunter Dickinson is making quite the first impression for Kansas as he is putting up 19.4 points and 12.6 rebounds per contest.
Kansas won 84-62 as a five-point favorite in 2022 in the third meeting between the teams over the last 27 years.
Something to consider when making college basketball predictions today, Kansas and Indiana are a combined 7-12 versus the college basketball betting lines this season.
It doesn’t get much easier for the 4-5 Spartans who head to Detroit to meet up with Baylor. The Bears have won the last two meetings against Michigan State by 17 and 15 points.
Freshman Ja’kobe Walter and Toledo transfer RayJ Dennis are the top scorers for Baylor with Tyson Walker averaging 20.3 points per game for the Spartans.
Baylor is 6-1-1 against the spread so far this season.
North Carolina looks to bounce back from a loss to UConn while Kentucky opened December with a loss to UNC Wilmington.
Antonio Reeves is the top scorer for the Wildcats while 7-foot freshman Aaron Bradshaw is back after missing seven games.
Veterans Armando Bacot and R.J. Davis are the top players for North Carolina.
The teams will meet for the 21st time since 2000.
Texas A&M Aggies at Houston Cougars
Date, time:
Wade Taylor, the leading scorer for Texas A&M in each of the last two seasons, will try to lead the Aggies to an upset of a 10-0 Houston squad.
Baylor transfer LJ Cryer is averaging 17.8 points and shooting 95.5% from the foul line while Emanuel Sharp has gone from averaging 5.9 points to 12.9 points per game.
This is the first meeting between the Aggies and Cougars since 2013.
North Carolina State and Tennessee head to San Antonio as part of the Hall of Fame Series.
NC State’s top scorer is Butler transfer Jayden Taylor with Northern Colorado transfer Dalton Knecht is averaging 18 points per game for Tennessee.
The teams will square off for the first time since 2017.
