Arizona Wildcats take on Long Beach State Beach in first round of NCAA Tournament
Long Beach State Beach (21-14, 13-10 Big West) vs. Arizona Wildcats (25-8, 16-6 Pac-12)
Salt Lake City; Thursday, 2 p.m. EDT
FANDUEL SPORTSBOOK LINE: Wildcats -20.5; over/under is 163.5
BOTTOM LINE: No. 9 Arizona plays in the first round of the NCAA Tournament against Long Beach State.
The Wildcats' record in Pac-12 play is 16-6, and their record is 9-2 against non-conference opponents. Arizona ranks second in college basketball with 18.6 assists per game led by Pelle Larsson averaging 3.6.
The Beach are 13-10 in Big West play. Long Beach State has an 8-7 record in games decided by at least 10 points.
Arizona averages 87.9 points, 12.2 more per game than the 75.7 Long Beach State allows. Long Beach State averages 5.5 made 3-pointers per game this season, 2.5 fewer made shots on average than the 8.0 per game Arizona allows.
TOP PERFORMERS: Caleb Love is averaging 18.1 points and 3.4 assists for the Wildcats. Oumar Ballo is averaging 13.6 points, 11.2 rebounds and two blocks over the last 10 games.
Marcus Tsohonis is scoring 17.8 points per game with 3.2 rebounds and 2.9 assists for the Beach. Lassina Traore is averaging 14.3 points and 12 rebounds over the past 10 games.
LAST 10 GAMES: Wildcats: 7-3, averaging 83.9 points, 40.3 rebounds, 17.6 assists, 7.1 steals and 3.5 blocks per game while shooting 49.5% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 70.0 points per game.
Beach: 5-5, averaging 75.8 points, 37.6 rebounds, 15.6 assists, 6.8 steals and 4.4 blocks per game while shooting 42.7% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 75.0 points.
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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.
