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The 15-seed Princeton Tigers (21-8) face the 2-seed Arizona Wildcats (28-6) Thursday in a first round South Region game in the NCAA Tournament. Tip-off from Golden 1 Center in Sacramento is scheduled for approximately 4:10 p.m. ET (TNT). Below, we analyze Tipico Sportsbook’s lines around the Princeton vs. Arizona odds, and make our expert college basketball picks, predictions and bets.
Princeton enters the tournament on a 4-game win streak, and has won 7 of its last 9 games with a 7-2 against the spread (ATS) mark, while cashing the Over in 9 of the last 11 contests.
Princeton won and covered in each of its Ivy League Tournament games, while hitting the Over in both outings. And while it matched up well against Penn and Yale, facing Arizona is a whole different animal.
The 3 main forwards for the Tigers – Tosan Evbuomwan, Keeshawn Kellman, and Caden Pierce – are listed at 6-foot-9 or less. The Wildcats have both Azuolas Tubelis (6-foot-11) and Oumar Ballo (7-foot-0) clogging up the middle.
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Princeton might be forced to try to score from the perimeter, and that’s not really its game. The Tigers hit just 34.2% from behind the arc, which was rather middling by national standards. In addition, the Wildcats limit teams to just 41.0% from the field, and 32.8% from the perimeter.
Arizona averaged 83.1 PPG and 49.3% field-goal percentage on offense, which was ranked in the Top 10 nationally. It also shoots a healthy 37.8% on 3-pointers.
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Princeton vs. Arizona odds
Provided by Tipico Sportsbook; access USA TODAY Sports Scores and Sports Betting Odds hub for a full list. Lines last updated Wednesday at 6:58 p.m. ET.
- Moneyline (ML): Princeton +650 (bet $100 to win $650) | Arizona -1200 (bet $1,200 to win $100)
- Against the spread (ATS): Princeton +14.5 (-110) | Arizona -14.5 (-110)
- Over/Under (O/U): 154.5 (O: -105 | U: -115)
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Princeton vs. Arizona picks and predictions
Prediction
Arizona 86, Princeton 67
Moneyline
Arizona (-1200) will cost you 12 times your potential return, and that is not a good betting strategy for either a standalone bet, or part of multi-team parlay. There is just no value betting such heavy favorites straight up.
AVOID.
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Against the spread
ARIZONA -14.5 (-110) will have a tremendous size advantage, forcing Princeton +14.5 (-110) outside. Unless Tubelis and/or Ballo get into foul trouble, it’s going to be impossible for the Tigers to get points in or near the paint.
There have been a lot of talking heads saying the legendary Pete Carill style is back at Princeton, but don’t get suckered in. This team is undersized, and overmatched, and the Pac-12 Tournament champs are going to take it to them early and often. It’s actually rather shocking that this line isn’t as high as 20 or so. Take advantage.
Over/Under
UNDER 154.5 (-115) is worth a look, as Princeton is likely to struggle putting points on the board.
While the Over is 9-2 in the last 11 games for the Tigers, that’s against teams or equal or smaller size. Arizona is bigger, stronger and faster, and Princeton will be in a whirlwind in this first-round matchup.
While the Over is 7-3 in the last 10 games overall for the Wildcats, it might take 90 or more points from them to get this game into the Over range. I don’t think the Wildcats run it up on the Tigers, and rag the clock with a large 2nd-half lead instead. The Under is 3-1-2 in the last 6 NCAA Tournament games for Arizona, too.
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