Stanford vs. Utah prediction and odds for Pac 12 Tournament first round

Stanford and Utah each are drawing dead for the NCAA Tournament, but each team would like to make a run in the PAC-12 Tournament, which gets underway on Wednesday night in Las Vegas, Nevada.

The road team won the two meetings between Stanford and Utah in regular season play, but the Utes have been battling injuries for the better part of a month and will look to showcase their full rotation on Wednesday night.

Here’s the odds for the first round matchup:

Stanford vs. Utah odds, spread and total

Stanford vs. Utah prediction and pick

Utah limps into the PAC-12 Tournament after losing five straight and seven of nine, including once at home to Stanford, but the team was hit by the injury bug over the past month and are getting healthy at the right time.

Rollie Worster, the team’s lead ball handler, and Gabe Madsen, the team’s best 3-point shooter, each returned to the lineup on Saturday against Colorado, a massive upgrade from what Utah has been trotting out of late.

When those two are both on the floor, Utah sees significant upticks on both sides of the ball, a near six percent increase in effective field goal percentage on offense while also allowing almost nine fewer points per 100 possessions, operating like a top 15 defense.

Further, the team shuts down the perimeter with those two on the floor, allowing opponents to shoot below 29% from the perimeter, which is the key to the Stanford offense, who led the PAC-12 in 3-point shooting as a team.

Utah is undervalued after a poor string of games due in part to injury. Back to 100%, the Utes should be favored.

Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.