Arizona Wildcats

Arizona won its first 23 games of 2025-26 and finished 32-2, and the three times the Wildcats were underdogs, they won outright. The spread was the harder bet: 19 covers in 33.

Twenty-three before the first loss

The Wildcats did not lose until 9 February, at Kansas, 82-78 with Arizona at -225. Five days later Texas Tech won 78-75 at Arizona, the Wildcats at -470. Those were the only two defeats: 16-1 at home, 9-1 away, 7-0 at neutral sites. January alone was 9-0, with six covers. Miami (OH) was the one Division I team with a better winning rate, and Duke matched it.

Three times the underdog, three wins

The market had Arizona behind three times, and three times the Wildcats won: 93-87 over Florida at +145 in the opener, 71-67 at UConn at +190, and 73-66 at Houston at +230. Those three games made 5.65 units.

As favorites the Wildcats went 28-2, and one unit on them in the 26 priced games still returned 3.72; only 14 teams made more that way. In all, 9.37 units over 29 priced games.

The spread is where it got hard

Nineteen covers in 33 lined games. At home it was 8 and 8, on the road 5 and 5. The tell is the size of the number: laying 20 points or more, Arizona covered 2 of 8. At neutral sites, mostly on short numbers, it covered 6 of 7.

Houston, twice

Houston lost both meetings and Arizona covered both, the second a 79-74 win in the Big 12 tournament final, a day after an 82-80 semifinal over Iowa State. In the NCAA tournament the Wildcats beat LIU, Utah State, Arkansas and Purdue, and lost to Michigan in the Final Four.

The total

Seventeen overs and 17 unders, even with Arizona scoring 86.15 points a game.

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