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Thursday CBB...Arizona at USC

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  • Thursday CBB...Arizona at USC

    11pm ET
    Arizona Wildcats @ USC Trojans

    We'll go with the seventh-ranked Arizona Wildcats to get back on track tonight by posting a win at USC.

    USC (7-6, 2-2 Pac-10) earned a split on it's recent road trip with a win at Washington and a loss to Washington State. But the Trojans have covered just one of six home games this season and included in their recent home defeats are a 92-74 loss to Oregon and a 93-78 loss to Cal Poly SLO. We don't expect USC to be able to stay with a fired-up Arizona team tonight.

    The Wildcats (10-2, 2-1 Pac-10) are just 4-7 ATS but have performed well on the road covering two of three. They had won nine straight overall this season but were dominated by Stanford at the weekend and the final score of 82-72 flattered the home team. The Cardinal led by 20 points with just over four minutes to play before Arizona hit nine straight buckets to put a shade of respectability into the final margin. Arizona shot just 19.8% from the field in the first half and a season-low 36.2 percent (25-of-69) in the game. Stanford's win was the fourth straight time that they have won at McKale Center.

    Arizona Head Coach Lute Olson did take some positives out of the game. "We've had a couple good practices (since Saturday). Where they really learn is from tape breakdowns. You can talk until you are blue in the face and maybe someone won't accept that. But when they see it on tape, it's a whole different ballgame. We'll learn from that as we've learned from other games. The biggest thing you take away from it is that the better the team you're playing, the more patient you have to be for shots to present themselves".

    Despite the loss, Arizona is still the top scoring team in the Pac-10 (86.2) and also leads the league in free throw percentage (76.4%), assists (20.33), blocked shots (6.33) and rebounds (43.2).

    Another victory tonight will make Olson Arizona's all-time winningest coach. The Wildcats have lost seven times by 9+ points during the Olson era and they have a 5-2 record in games immediately following those losses.

    Arizona enters tonight's contest having won ten straight Pac-10 road games dating back to February, 2002. In fact the Wildcats are a conference-best 122-59 (.674) lifetime in Pac-10 road play.

    The Wildcats have covered seven straight in this series and we expect them to post a double-digit win tonight.

    Recommended Play: Arizona -8

    Free play courtesy of www.ChampionPlays.com
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