Arizona at BYU Betting Tips & Preview

The team that couldn’t lose through its first 23 games of the season now can’t seem to win a game. The unanimous No. 1 pick in the country a week ago, Arizona takes a 2-game losing streak into Wednesday’s showdown with AJ Dybantsa and BYU.

The Cougars are familiar with losing streaks having recently ended a 4-game slide by winning its last 2 outings. Ironically the skid started with a 3-point home loss to Arizona and included close setbacks against 2 other nationally ranked foes.

BYU at Arizona Preview

The BYU Cougars and Arizona Wildcats will meet for the second time in less than a month when they assemble at McKale Center in Tucson, AZ on Wednesday, February 18, 2026. Tipoff for the Big 12 contest is slated for 9 p.m. ET and it can be seen on ESPN.

Public Betting Odds Factors

BYU was cruising through their season up until the middle of last month. Riding a 13-game winning streak and with only one loss, the Cougs entered a brutal part of their schedule. The streak ended with an 84-71 loss to then No. 15 Texas Tech igniting a run of 5 losses in 6 games.

Included in that stretch were consecutive losses to Arizona and Kansas as well as a 77-66 setback to top 10 Houston. During that span BYU failed to get a payout on the college basketball spread extending their streak of ATS losses to 8 in a row.

With Dybantsa putting up big numbers, the Cougars ended their slide beating Baylor and Colorado. Dybantsa 56 points 18 rebounds and 15 assists combined in the two games. BYU covered the 3-point spread in the 99-94 win over the Bears but is still just 1-9 ATS in its last 10 games.

Both teams were hit with major injury news in their last game. BYU star Richie Saunders sustained a torn ACL early in the Colorado game and is done for the season. Saunders averages 18.0 points and 5.8 rebounds playing more than 31 minutes per game.

Arizona’s frontcourt suffered a blow when Koa Peat sat out the second half of Saturday’s game against Texas Tech with what the team described as a lower body injury. Peat will be reevaluated ahead of this matchup, but it sounds like he could miss some time. “It definitely hurts our rotation,” coach Tommy Lloyd said of the injury.

Peat averages 13.8 points and 5.4 rebounds but was a non-factor in the losing streak. He scored 6 points on 2 of 11 shooting vs. Kansas and had just 2 points Saturday before exiting in the first half.

BYU at Arizona Predictions

It’ll take a massive effort to beat Arizona. Kansas got that from Melvin Council Jr. and Flory Bidunga, who each scored 23 points in KU’s 82-78 upset. On Saturday Tech’s JT Toppin was unstoppable with 31 points on 13 of 22 shooting, 13 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals. He scored 8 of Tech’s 12 overtime points in the 78-75 victory.

The loss of Saunders hurts but BYU has Dybantsa and Robert Wright III, who are both capable of going off. Over his last 4 games Dybantsa is averaging 30 points. Wright picked up the scoring slack against Colorado hitting 12 of 16 shots and all 4 3-pointers for 39 points, the second straight game he scored at least 30 points.

BYU at Arizona Betting Tips

BYU has covered the college basketball betting line just once in its last 10 games and is 9-15 ATS overall this season.

The Cougars have scored at least 90 points 4 times in their last 7 games, cashing the OVER 6 times in that span.

Arizona is 1-3 ATS in its last 4 games and only 7-7 ATS in its 14 home games.

The UNDER is 6-2 in Arizona’s last 8 games.

BYU at Arizona Head to Head and Key Stats

The teams played a close one in Provo on Jan. 26 with Arizona getting the 86-83 win and payout as a 1.5-point road favorite. Brandon Burries led all scorers with 29 points.

Arizona’s defense did a nice job limiting Dybantsa to just 6 of 24 shooting. He did score 24 points attempting 16 of BYU’s 19 free throws with 11 makes. The Cats were 26 of 32 from the stripe.