With only seven games remaining on the regular season docket for both the No. 17 Colorado Buffaloes and No. 16 Oregon Ducks, Thursday night’s rematch at Matthew Knight Arena could go a long way in deciding the winner of the Pac-12 regular season title. With that, much will be on the line when Tad Boyle’s troops square off against Dana Altman’s revenge minded group. The Buffs handed the Ducks a 74-65 defeat as short 1.5-point home favorites at online sportsbooks when these teams squared off in Boulder to open up the New Year. However, the home team has won and covered the closing college basketball betting line in each of the last 10 skirmishes, so history will certainly be on the side of Payton Pritchard and company when they return home looking to snap a two-game losing streak in hopes of pulling even with CU for conference supremacy.
This Pac-12 showdown takes place on Thursday, February 13, 2020. Tip-off will be at 9 p.m. ET from Matthew Knight Arena in Eugene, OR. The game will be broadcast live on ESPN. So make sure to fill out your March Madness Bracket today!
CBB Betting Odds at BookMaker.eu
Odds Analysis
Since falling 72-68 as 5-point road chalk at UCLA, Tyler Bey and company have rattled off three straight wins against USC, Cal and Stanford. Unfortunately for those that supported them in those matchups, their bankrolls took a small hit with the Buffs managing one pointspread cover; that coming in the 78-57 trouncing of the Trojans. Surprisingly, the pair of ATS defeats came at home where they failed to cover inflated imposts against the Golden Bears and Cardinal. Still, the Buffs battled back from an 11-point halftime deficit to ultimately defeat Stanford 81-74 by outscoring the Tree by 18 points in the second half. A much better team at home, Colorado will attempt to improve upon its 3-3 SU and ATS true road records in this spot.
The Ducks found themselves perched atop the Pac-12 standings following four straight wins against Washington, USC, UCLA and Cal with two coming in overtime against the Huskies and Trojans. They also got much more than bargained for in that trip to Berkeley where they had to go the distance just to secure the 77-72 win and non-cover as decided 10.5-point road chalk. Negative regression then proceeded to hit the team with successive losses incurred against Stanford and Oregon State. The Ducks owned halftime leads in both matchups, but saw the offense falter dramatically in the second stanza of both games. For the Ducks to remain undefeated on their hardwood (7-5 ATS) Thursday night, the offense must put forth a complete game.
Recent Meetings
The Buffs improved to 7-0 SU and 6-1 ATS hosting the Ducks when the teams ran up against one another at the CU Events Center in early January. As dominant they’ve been hosting the Ducks, it’s been a completely different story in Eugene where the Ducks have come out on top five of the six times they hosted the rivalry and covered the closing number five times. Oregon will take to its home court for this crucial clash having rattled off four straight wins and covers against the Buffs in Eugene.
Colorado got balanced scoring outputs from its three-headed offensive attack with McKinley Wright IV, Tyler Bey and D’Shawn Schwartz combing for 49 of the Buffs 74 overall points. As for Oregon, it was once again the Pritchard and Chris Duarte show with the duo accounting for nearly half of the Ducks 65 total points. The rebounding battle was won by CU 34-33, but the Buffaloes also enjoyed a heavy dose of home cooking with it taking 25 free throws to the Ducks 17 while also taking advantage of a 23-13 foul discrepancy. Those advantages likely won’t repeat themselves with the rematch taking place in the Pacific Northwest.
Prediction
So I’ve had a pretty decent handle on the Ducks of late. In their last five games, I made four investments at online sportsbooks and ended up 2-1-1 or 3-1 ATS depending on where you got into the market. However, the lone defeat occurred on Saturday night when they pissed away a 10-point second half lead at Oregon State and lost outright. For Pritchard and his mates to come out on top of what’s expected to be another closely contested battle, it’s going to need to put forth a balanced scoring effort - in both halves. It can’t be a two-man show! Will Richardson has been that guy of late; save for going for a meager five points and one assist against the Beavers. If he can get back to averaging the 16 points he did the three games prior, Oregon will win and cover this game since I don’t foresee CU keeping both Pritchard and Duarte in check a second time around.
College Basketball Pick: Oregon 77, Colorado 67
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