Baylor vs Arizona prediction, odds, pick for College Basketball
01/14/2025 08:48 AM
It’s time to continue our College Basketball odds series with a Baylor-Arizona prediction and pick. Find out how to watch Baylor-Arizona.
The Baylor Bears are making their way through the state of Arizona. They played Arizona State on Saturday night in Tempe. Now they go to Tucson to face the Arizona Wildcats.
Baylor outplayed Arizona State for most of the game on Saturday night but allowed a late rally by the Sun Devils and got roped into an overtime game. However, the Bears were resilient. They regrouped and found a way to get the job done against ASU, winning by six and covering the 5.5-point spread by half a point. This game at Arizona should be tougher than that OT game against Arizona State. The Arizona Wildcats seem to be figuring things out under coach Tommy Lloyd.
In November and December, Arizona was struggling, barely above .500. The Wildcats entered 2025 needing a newer and better identity, and they have found it. This team is playing with more toughness, hunger and force at both ends of the floor. Arizona went into Cincinnati and West Virginia and controlled two Big 12 road games. The Wildcats handled UCF without any problems this past weekend. This is much more like the team we expected to see before the season began.
In college basketball, a sport with over 350 teams, you will see all sorts of timelines for team evolution and improvement. Some start quickly out of the gate in November. Others need three or four weeks to click. By mid-December, they are figuring things out and ironing out their flaws. Other teams wait until the very end, in late February or early March, to finally solve their issues and make a late run on the bubble toward the NCAA Tournament. Arizona seems to be a team which needed all of nonconference play to understand how to play better. As soon as the Big 12 schedule started right after Christmas Day, Arizona has gotten better. The urgency attached to conference competition has given Arizona the boost this team needed. Arizona might not be ready to challenge Houston and Iowa State at the top of the Big 12, but the Wildcats are playing well enough that Big 12 title contention is a realistic possibility, at least for the time being. Grabbing another home win over Baylor would solidify Arizona’s place in the upper tier of the Big 12 standings, at least giving this team a chance to make a big run over the next several weeks.
Here are the Baylor-Arizona College Basketball Odds, courtesy of FanDuel
College Basketball Odds: Baylor-Arizona Odds
Baylor: +5.5 (-115)
Moneyline: +176
Arizona: -5.5 (-105)
Moneyline: -215
Over: 149.5 (-110)
Under: 149.5 (-110)
How to Watch Baylor vs Arizona
Time: 11 p.m. ET/8 p.m. PT
TV: ESPN
*Watch college basketball LIVE with fuboTV (Get Access | Save $30)*
Why Baylor Will Cover The Spread/Win
Baylor scored a road win at Arizona State. It wasn’t easy, and Arizona State might be losing steam right now, but any road win in overtime in conference play feels like an achievement. Baylor handled adversity and did not let a winnable game slip away. That should build confidence for this game and enable BU to hang tight against a good but not great Arizona team which is playing better, but has not proved it is fully ready to challenge for the Big 12 title. Let’s not overrate Arizona based on two really good weeks of basketball. We need to see more from the Wildcats.
Why Arizona Will Cover The Spread/Win
Arizona is a dramatically different team compared to the one we saw six weeks ago. The defense is so much better. The team is not wholly reliant on Caleb Love scoring and shooting, which was a continuous problem. Tommy Lloyd is a good coach. He is making adjustments. Arizona is at home against a wobbly Baylor team which failed to beat Arizona State in regulation and allowed that game to get a lot more thorny than it ever should have been.
Final Baylor-Arizona Prediction & Pick
Arizona looks like a clearly better team and is playing at home. The spread looks small. Take Arizona.
Final Baylor-Arizona Prediction & Pick: Arizona -5.5
The post Baylor vs Arizona prediction, odds, pick for College Basketball appeared first on ClutchPoints.
