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Pac-12 Tournament 2021: Betting Tips for Quarterfinal Odds, Spreads, Over-Under
March 11, 2021
The Oregon Ducks and USC Trojans begin their route to a potential collision at the Pac-12 tournament final on Thursday.
The top two seeds in Las Vegas will face two of the four winners from Wednesday's first-round games: the Arizona State Sun Devils and Utah Utes, respectively.
Oregon comes into the competition in better form on a five-game winning streak, and it may have more motivation to reach the final since it lost to USC in the regular season and has not received any respect in the national polls.
Before USC focuses on a potential rematch with Oregon, it has to avenge one of its late-season losses to Utah, who might be a dangerous underdog with three wins in its previous four contests.
Pac-12 Tournament Quarterfinal Schedule
Odds via DraftKings Sportsbook.
No. 1 Oregon (-9) vs. No. 8 Arizona State (Over/Under: 147.5) (2:30 p.m. ET, Pac-12 Network)
No. 4 UCLA (-5) vs. No. 5 Oregon State (O/U: 133) (5:30 p.m. ET, Pac-12 Network)
No. 2 USC (-7.5) vs. No. 7 Utah (O/U: 139) (8:30 p.m. ET, Pac-12 Network)
No. 3 Colorado (-14) vs. No. 11 California (O/U: 133.5) (11:30 p.m. ET, ESPN)
Betting Tips
Oregon (-9) vs. Arizona State
Oregon is playing like a Top 25 team, but it has not earned that recognition from the pollsters.
Dana Altman's team is peaking at the right time and could take advantage of a matchup with a depleted Arizona State.
The Sun Devils barely escaped their first-round meeting with the Washington State Cougars, and they were blown out in their final two regular-season games.
Meanwhile, Oregon has been feasting on its recent opponents, as it has four straight wins by eight or more points.
The Ducks also possess a much better defensive unit than Arizona State, as they concede an average of 9.9 fewer points per game than the Sun Devils.
Four of Oregon's last five foes failed to reach the 70-point threshold, and Arizona State has not gotten there in three games.
Bobby Hurley's team is playing without freshmen Josh Christopher and Marcus Bagley, who were two of the team's top four scorers.
Oregon has a deep collection of basket-makers that will be on the court on Thursday. Five Ducks average over 10 points per game, and at least one of them hit the 20-point mark in each of the last five contests.
The backcourt combination of Chris Duarte, LJ Figueroa and Will Richardson and Eugene Omoruyi's paint presence could overwhelm Arizona State.
When the two sides met on February 11, those four players all reached double figures, while Remy Martin was the only player to do so for the Sun Devils.
We could see a similar situation play out on Thursday with the Ducks playing some of the best basketball in the country over the last month and suffering just one loss since February 6.
USC (-7.5) vs. Utah
The 7.5-point spread in favor of USC may be a bit respectful to Utah's current form.
The Utes won three of their last four games and produced 98 points in each of their last two victories.
However, Utah will go up against much stiffer competition than the Washington Huskies and Arizona State on Thursday.
USC has a dominant paint player in Evan Mobley and two guards in Drew Peterson and Tahj Eaddy who can take over games in an instant.
Although those players struggled a bit in the February 27 loss to Utah, it should not affect how they perform on Thursday.
The defeat in Salt Lake City occurred at the end of a four-game run across seven days, and the Trojans showed some signs of fatigue at the high altitude.
USC bounced back from that loss with a commanding win over the Stanford Cardinal and a last-second victory against the UCLA Bruins.
With a fully-rested squad in tow, the Trojans should dictate the pace of the quarterfinal matchup against a team they held to 46 points on January 2.
Utah is 2-4 against the league's top three teams and could struggle against a defense that allows 64.1 points per game.
Follow Joe on Twitter, @JTansey90.
Statistics obtained from ESPN.com.
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