Arizona a 9.5-point favorite against TCU in second round of NCAA Tournament
After dispatching 16-seed Wright State with relative ease Friday, Arizona is set to face 9-seed TCU in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
According to Vegas, the Cats are a near-double-digit favorite in the game.
Arizona is favored by 9.5 over TCU
— Jason Scheer (@jasonscheer) March 19, 2022
The Horned Frogs (21-12) beat 8-seed Seton Hall Friday night in a game that was never really that close. They had a nine-point lead at the halftime break, then outscored the Pirates 39-21 in the second half to win 69-42.
TCU held Seton Hall to 29% shooting for the entire game, the lowest by a TCU opponent in seven seasons. The 42 points were also a season-low for a TCU opponent.
KenPom projects a 76-69 win for the Wildcats (32-3) and gives coach Tommy Lloyd’s group a 73% chance to win.
The lone common opponent the two teams share is Utah, who TCU beat 76-62 on Dec. 8. Arizona took both meetings with the Utes this season by 18 points at home and then by 20 on the road. Since an upset loss in Colorado on Feb. 26, Arizona has won five of its last seven games by double-digits, including a 10-point win over the Buffaloes in the Pac-12 Tournament semis.
TCU, which closed out its regular season with back-to-back road losses to Kansas and West Virginia, beat Texas in the quarterfinal round of the Big 12 Tournament but lost to Kansas by 13 in the semis. The game against Seton Hall was essentially a pick ’em, with the Pirates a slim one-point favorite over the Horned Frogs.
TCU is now 7-4-2 against the spread in non-Big 12 games this season. They’re 12-5-1 against the spread as an underdog.
The action gets underway Sunday at 6:40 p.m. PT on TBS.