West Virginia at Arizona: Picks, Odds & Tips

Following their 18th straight win and one of three DI teams that have yet to lose, the Arizona Wildcats were a unanimous pick for the No. 1 ranking in college basketball. The Cats play a mid-week game against Cincinnati ahead of Saturday’s showdown with West Virginia. WVU rebounded from a thrashing by Houston to upend Colorado ahead of its trip to Arizona.

West Virginia at Arizona Preview

The only meeting of the season between the West Virginia Mountaineers and No. 1 ranked Arizona Wildcats takes place on Saturday, January 24, 2026 from the McKale Center in Tucson, AZ. Tipoff is slated for 2 p.m. ET on CBS.

Public Betting Odds Factors

West Virginia relies on a stout defense to win games. The Mountaineers have been good at that this season allowing an average of 63.1 points, 6th best in the country, while opponents shoot just 40.3 percent from the field. As a result WVU has cashed the UNDER on the college basketball spread in 5 of its last 6 games.

Honor Huff is the go-to guy offensively for WVU averaging 17.1 points, the only player scoring more than 10.5 points per game. A lot of his points come from behind the arc with 3.8 made triples per game. Huff also shoots 39 percent from distance.

All six WVU losses so far this season have come away from Morgantown. The Mountaineers are 0-2 in true road games and 0-4 in neutral site contests while going 2-4 ATS in those outings.

The Wildcats have dominated opponents averaging 90.6 points while giving up an average of 69.3 points. The 21.3 point differential is the 5th highest in DI. Recent games against UCF and Arizona State brought the margin down, though. The Cats won each of those games by 7-points failing to cover the spread.

Arizona has shown impressive depth with 8 players averaging more than 15 minutes of run time and 3 players averaging more than 14 points. Koa Peat (14.7), Brayden Burries (14.3) and Jaden Bradley (14.1) all shoot better than 50 percent from the floor.

The Cats haven’t shied away from tough competition winning 5 games against teams that were ranked among the top 20 at the time of the playing. Most impressive were handing UConn its lone loss and knocking off SEC leader Florida.

Arizona has won all 10 home games, but playing against massive spreads has them at just 4-6 against the NCAA basketball odds in those games.

West Virginia at Arizona Predictions

Arizona is likely facing another double-digit point spread when the line emerges for this game. WVU can stay close with their aggressive defense and 3-point shooting is the X-factor. However, the Cats are the better team and their depth will help them get the cover victory.

West Virginia at Arizona Betting Tips

The Mountaineers have been on a mini hot streak with wins and payouts in 3 of their last 4 games allowing an average of 68.3 points in those games.

WVU has cashed the UNDER in 4 of its last 5 games and 11 times overall this season.

Arizona failed to get a payout in its last 2 games and is 3-4 ATS in its last 7 outings. For the season, though, the Cats have been a good spread beat going 11-7 ATS.

Scoring at least 84 points in each of their last 7 games has allowed Arizona to cash the OVER 6 times in that span. And the OVER is 10-3 in Arizona’s last 13 games.

West Virginia at Arizona Head to Head and Key Stats

According to Arizona athletics, the teams played just 4 times prior to a 2008 meeting in the NCAA Tournament. WVU won that contest 75-65.

The teams played twice last season splitting the games with each losing as a nationally ranked squad. In a non-conference tournament game, WVU beat No. 24 Arizona, 83-76, in the Bahamas in OT.