Arizona Will Once Again Dominate Cal

Cal vs. Arizona, 8:30 ET

I am guessing no one will be happier for January to be over than me. It was a brutal month when it came to gambling. The first half was okay, but the back half was an absolute struggle and I am happy that the calendar has changed. Now that we enter February, we have some big things approaching - we get baseball coming back, the hockey All-Star Break has started, the NBA All-Star game is approaching, and, of course, the Super Bowl. Tonight, we take on a game between Cal and Arizona as they battle in the PAC12.

Cal is sitting at just 8-12 for the year, but half of their wins have come within the conference play. Even though they clearly have struggled this year they are playing better basketball lately. They started the stretch of PAC-12 games with a 19-point home loss to tonight's opponent. Then they dropped the game to Arizona State by just two points, and USC by eight points. Since that point, they've gone 4-2, beating UCLA, Colorado, Washington State, and Stanford. The biggest problem with this team seems to be that the consistency isn't there. What is more interesting is that they have consistency out of two players, Jaylon Tyson and Fardaws Aimaq. Tyson consistently leads the team in points, and Aimaq leads the team in rebounds most games. Outside of that, the team isn't getting much support. I expect them to once again lead the team in scoring tonight. Even if Arizona locks in on them, they will still get the most shots in that game. If the opportunities are available, they may be able to capitalize. 

Arizona has been all over the place this season. At the moment, they sit at 15-5 and I'm sure they will tack on another victory to their win column tonight. At one point, they were ranked #1 in the country (actually they were ranked first when they faced Cal earlier in the year), but now they have slipped to #11. The five losses have all come on the road or on neutral sites. They dropped games to Purdue and Florida Atlantic both on neutral courts, and both close enough games. Their next three losses have all come in conference against Stanford, Washington State, and Oregon State, all on the road. While they won by 19 the first time they played, and now they have the comfort of the home court, the last three games have been tighter contests. On their home court, however, they have won their past five games by six, 15, 19, 47, and 25. They are led by Caleb Love and his relentless attacks that result in a solid amount of shots from all three levels. The Arizona backcourt will certainly beat the Cal one, but it should at least be entertaining to watch. 

The books set the line at 18.5 for tonight and I do think that is respectable for this game. They won the first one by 19 on the road and there is no indication that they can't take this game by 20 or more points tonight. You know what Cal is going to do: get the ball to Tyson and Aimaq. Arizona knows it too, so that game plan should be easy for them. I'm going to take Arizona to cover the big number. 

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