2022 NCAA Tournament First Round: No. 1 Arizona Wildcats vs. No. 16 Wright State Raiders
How to Watch:
- Date: Friday, March 18
- Time: 7:27 p.m. ET
- Location: Viejas Arena in San Diego, CA
- TV: truTV
- Live Stream: NCAA.com
Tale of the Tape:
| No. 1 ARIZ | STAT | No. 16 WSU |
| Pac-12 | Conference | Horizon |
| 31-3 | Record | 22-13 |
| 84.6 (4th) | Points Per Game | 75.5 (68th) |
| 67.5 | Points Allowed Per Game | 71.1 |
| 0.6491 (2nd) | RPI | 0.503 (166th) |
| 68th | Strength of Schedule | 323rd |
| Automatic Bid | Bid | Automatic Bid |
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Arizona leaders:
- Bennedict Mathurin, G, SO: 17.4 PPG, 5.6 RPG, 2.6 APG, 1.0 SPG, 37.6% 3PT
- Azuolas Tubelis, F, SO: 14.5 PPG, 6.4 RPG, 2.4 APG, 1.1 SPG, 55.3% FG
Wright State leaders:
- Tanner Holden, G, JR: 19.8 PPG, 7.1 RPG, 2.6 APG, 1.2 SPG, 49.5% FG
- Grant Basile, F, JR: 18.5 PPG, 8.6 RPG, 2.1 APG, 1.6 BPG, 51.0% FG
Odds, Lines, and Past Performance:
- ARIZ Moneyline: -5000
- WSU Moneyline: +2000
- Spread: ARIZ -21.5
- Over/Under: 156.5
- ATS Record: ARIZ 20-13-1, WSU 14-19
- Over/Under Record: ARIZ 20-14, WSU 18-15
Odds courtesy of Draftkings. For the latest odds, click here.
The Pick:
- The Wildcats are one of the favorites to win the national title and for good reason. This team is 2nd in KemPom rankings and features the 5th-ranked offense and 20th-ranked defense. The offense has beautiful ball movement, which leads to assists on 65.2% of their baskets and makes them incredibly hard to guard, especially for a below-average unit like the Raiders.
- They’re also an incredibly big team, with KemPom ranking them as the 2nd-biggest team in the tournament. Even though I think the guards will be the key for them since Mathurin was the Pac-12 Player of the Year and point guard Kerr Kriisa has been a driving force on this team but suffered an injury in the Pac-12 tournament. They won’t need him to beat the Raiders, or maybe even to advance past the first weekend, but he’ll need to be healthy if they want to cut down the nets at the end.
- The Wildcats play at the 8th-fastest adjusted tempo in the nation but the Raiders also play fast, ranking 98th, which makes the over a little bit enticing here.
- The Raiders are 235th in the country from three (32.9%) and also turn the ball over a fair amount, 12.3 a game. Neither of which bode well for any chances of an upset.
