Barry Recks
The Arizona Wildcats are fresh off winning the Pac-12 tournament title and they will be meeting in the first round of the 2023 NCAA tournament the champ of the Ivy League. Is there going to be an upset here?
Read on for more about this Arizona vs Princeton matchup in the 2022-23 college basketball season, including the latest odds, pick, and prediction to win this showdown, as brought to you by JefeBet. Also, don’t forget to check out the other NCAAB game previews here to help you make the best betting decisions.
Predictions and Betting Preview for the Arizona Wildcats vs Princeton Tigers NCAA Basketball Championship Round 1 Game on March 16, 2023
- Where: Golden 1 Center, Sacramento, California
- When: Thursday, March 16, 2023, 4:10 PM ET
- March Madness Betting Odds: View NCAAB Odds
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Betting on the Arizona Wildcats
- Regular Season Record: 28-6
After a shaky ending to the regular season, during which they lost three of six games, Arizona recaptured their form in the Pac-12 tournament – just in time for the NCAA tournament. Arizona kicked off the league tourney with a 95-84 win over the Stanford Cardinal and then demolished the Arizona State Sun Devils in the semis, 78-59, before pulling off a 61-59 victory over the UCLA Bruins in the finals.
Clearly, this Arizona team can hang with the best of them, as further evidenced by its 9-2 record in Quadrant 1 games. Arizona’s offense is going to be pretty hard to stop for Princeton. The Wildcats have great talents up and down the roster led by the massive duo of 6-11 Azuolas Tubelis and 7-0 Oumar Ballo, who are averaging 19.8 and 14.2 points, respectively. As a team, Arizona is third in the nation with 82.7 points per outing and third as well with a 56.8 eFG%.
Betting on the Princeton Tigers
- Regular Season Record: 21-8
Princeton knows that it’s a tall order to beat a team like the Wildcats. But like Arizona, the Tigers have great momentum heading into the NCAA tournament. Princeton won the Ivy League tournament by beating the Penn Quakers (77-70) and the Yale Bulldogs (74-65).
Tosan Evbuomwan, the Tigers’ best player, is also on a roll, having scored 21 points in each of the last Princeton games. There should be some holes in Arizona’s defense that Evbuomwan and the Tigers can take advantage of. For one, the Wildcats are just 205th in the nation with 71.5 points allowed per game and despite their size, are just 197th in block rate.
JefeBet Prediction
Princeton has got to study harder to find a way to beat the Wildcats. Arizona shoots the light out from inside and behind the arc for a clean, dominant victory in the first round.
Prediction: Arizona wins, 88-68.
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