Thread: Uw @ az

BetOnline -110-4 -110--138

Arizona as -4 with an O/U of 138 predicts a Cats' win at 71 > 67.

I was expecting us to be -2 and I don't expect the spread to stay where it is for long.

Fogg was also 10th in games started the last time I looked, but he may have overtaken Steve Kerr by now.

From Covers.com:

Preview: Washington at Arizona
When: 7:00 PM ET, Saturday, January 28, 2012
Where: McKale Center, Tucson, Arizona

Preview
THE STORY: Washington, which clawed its way back into the upper echelon of the Pac-12 with a victory at Arizona State on Thursday, has its hands full with Arizona, a team that wants to join the Huskies at the top. It is the first meeting between the two teams since their Pac-10 championship meeting last year, a game the Huskies won in overtime from the regular season conference champions 77-75. Because of that game, this one is being televised by ESPN’s Gameday crew from McKale Center.

TV: 7 p.m. ET, ESPN, ESPN3.com

ABOUT WASHINGTON (13-7, 6-2 Pac-12): The Huskies are close to being able to play at full strength. Sophomore guard C.J. Wilcox, the team’s second-leading scorer, came off the bench for 10 minutes Thursday after missing three games because of a hip injury. In the tournament final last year, it was Wilcox’s 3-pointer with 5.6 seconds left that forced overtime. Guard Terrence Ross is the only player who ranks in the Pac-12’s top 10 in scoring (seventh) and rebounding (sixth). Ross had 16 points in the championship game last year. This will be the first time that freshman guard Tony Wroten, the team’s leading scorer coming off a 22-point game against Arizona State, will face Arizona.

ABOUT ARIZONA (14-7, 5-3): The Wildcats rebounded from a terrible shooting effort against Colorado (19 of 55, 34.5 percent) to hit on 30 of 59 shots (50.8) against Washington State on Thursday. Over the last four games, the Wildcats' defense has limited opponents to 40.3 percent shooting from the field and opponents are averaging only 61.9 points. Kyle Fogg has moved into the school’s top 10 in two categories in 3-pointers made (10th at 161) and 3-pointers attempted (10th, 406). Solomon Hill is coming off a 17-point, 11-rebound game against Washington State.

TIP-INS:

1. The last time Washington was on ESPN’s College Gameday was Feb. 20, 2010, when the Huskies hosted UCLA.

2. Arizona freshman guard Josiah Turner is on a four-game streak in which he’s averaging 9.8 points and 2.3 assists while hitting 50 percent (13 of 26) of his field goals.

3. The coaching staffs for both teams will be wearing sneakers with their suits as part of the Coaches vs. Cancer Suits and Sneakers weekend.

I hope we can contain Wroten. He does sound ready for this game.

From Percy Allen of the Seattle Times:

Both coaches said they're curious to see how their teams handle the environment.

The last time the Wildcats played in a nationally televised game, they lost 59-57 at home to Oregon.

Admittedly, the Huskies were intimidated in their 86-80 defeat to Duke at Madison Square Garden on Dec. 10. They fell behind by 19 points in the first half.

While everyone else froze, freshman guard Tony Wroten Jr. came off the bench and scored a game-high 23 points on 8-for-12 shooting.

Afterward, Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said: "He's a big-time talent."

Wroten expects Saturday to be much more intense than playing the Blue Devils.

"It will be way better, way crazier than the Duke game because we were like 50-50 crowd wise," he said. "This is going to be like 90-10 — if 10. It's going be crazy loud. It's going to be ridiculous.

"I just can't wait. I'm so excited for this game."

Sitting in a courtside seat at the McKale Center after Friday's practice, Wroten rubbed his forearms and said he had goose bumps talking about the game.

"I feel like if you're a college basketball player, you've got to live for this," he said. "You've got to be ready. You know it's going to be crazy. They're going to go on runs. You just can't fold. ... Try to block the crowd out. It's going to be hard."

It takes a special player to remain calm and excel in hostile conditions. Like Thomas, Wroten has carried Washington on the road at times.

The freshman guard did it Thursday when he tallied 22 points, six rebounds, three steals and two assists in a 60-54 win at Arizona State.

"A real player comes and looks at his place and says, 'Yeah, this is just how I like it here,' " Romar said. " 'This is about as good as it gets. Let's go play.' And you feel like, 'I personally can control the outcome of the game.' "

Note

• Sophomore guard C.J. Wilcox, who missed three games due to a hip injury, will continue to play limited minutes. He returned Thursday and logged 10 minutes.