2018 Pac-12 Tournament Championship Game Odds, College Basketball Betting Pick

For the fifth year in a row the top two teams in the Pac-12 will meet in the tournament title game on Saturday, as the top-seeded Arizona Wildcats (26-7) battle the second-seeded USC Trojans (23-10). These teams met just once during the regular season, with Arizona winning 81-67 as a 6.5-point home favorite on February 10 behind 56.1 percent shooting from the field.

College basketball point spread: The Wildcats opened as 1.5-point favorites; the total is at 146, according to sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark. (Line updates and matchup report)

College basketball betting pick, via OddsShark computer:74.1-71.6, Wildcats (College basketball picks on every game)

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Why the Trojans can cover the spread

USC may be the fresher team despite playing the later of the two semifinal games on Friday, rolling to a 74-54 rout of the sixth-seeded Oregon Ducks as a three-point favorite. The Trojans led 37-23 at halftime and got a game-high 27 points from sophomore guard Jonah Mathews, who averages just 8.8 on the season.

Mathews also scored 13 in a 61-48 win over the 10th-seeded Oregon State Beavers on Thursday, so another big performance here could earn him MVP honors for the tournament.

Why the Wildcats can cover the spread

The 15th-ranked Wildcats are coming off a 78-67 overtime victory against the fourth-seeded UCLA Bruins in the first semifinal, blanking their opponent 11-0 in the extra session. Freshman phenom Deandre Ayton turned in the best game of his young and likely short college career for them with 32 points and 14 rebounds in 40 minutes, as the team overcame a slow start that saw the Bruins lead 30-26 at halftime.

While it was not pretty, Arizona still picked up its fourth straight win and covered the spread for the second game in a row after coming up short against the number in its previous three.

Smart betting pick

As winners of two of the past three Pac-12 championship games, the Wildcats have the experience to get the job done again. No school has more than Arizona's six Pac-12 tournament titles, and head coach Sean Miller has helped his team rally around recent NCAA allegations to play some of its best basketball.

The Wildcats have also gone 10-2 straight up and 9-3 against the spread in the last 12 meetings with USC, according to the OddsShark College Basketball Database, and they will improve upon those trends on Saturday. 

College basketball betting trends

USC is 5-1 ATS in its last six games.

USC is 3-9 ATS in its last 12 games against Arizona.

The total has gone under in seven of Arizona's last nine games.

All college basketball odds and betting trends courtesy of Bleacher Report's official odds partner, OddsShark. Check out OddsShark on Twitter and Instagram or head to YouTube for more betting picks and analysis on this week's top games. You can also download the free odds tracker app.