West Coast foes will lock horns when the No. 25 Gonzaga Bulldogs (13-3) face off against the BYU Cougars (12-5) at McCarthey Athletic Center. Action begins at 9:00 pm ET on Thursday, Jan. 14 and can be seen on ES2 and ES3.
The Bulldogs enter this game hoping for similar success after topping Portland 85-74 in their last matchup. Domantas Sabonis was a key piece, recording his eighth double-double of the season with 28 points and 17 rebounds. The Cougars, meanwhile, are coming off a 102-92 win against San Francisco in their last game. Chase Fischer led the team in scoring by registering 25 points on 7-for-14 shooting.
Sabonis and Kyle Wiltjer have been better than usual over the last five games for the Bulldogs. During that stretch, Sabonis has averaged 22.4 points, 11.4 rebounds, 3.2 assists, 1.2 steals, and 1.6 blocks, while Wiltjer has recorded 23.4 points, 7.0 rebounds, 1.6 assists, 1.0 block, and 2.8 three-pointers a game.
Gonzaga is a six-point favorite against BYU and the Over/Under (O/U) for this game is sitting at 161 points. While the Bulldogs have a good Straight Up (SU) record (13-3), they’ve been poor Against The Spread (ATS) with a 4-9-1 record. They have a solid 8-2 SU record over their last 10 games, but have not fared as well ATS (2-7). The Bulldogs are one of the best in Division I in terms of field-goal percentage, shooting an impressive .491 from the field. Teams usually don’t get many offensive rebounds against the Bulldogs, who are one of the top defensive rebounding teams in the country with an average of 29.4 per game.
Over on the other bench, the Cougars have records of 7-5-2 ATS and 12-5 SU. The Cougars are the better of the two teams when it comes to assist-to-turnover ratio, ranking 46th in Division I at 1.34.
This game marks the season’s first head-to-head clash between these conference foes. Their previous game was a Bulldogs victory, bumping their SU record to 8-2 over BYU in their most recent meetings. Furthermore, Gonzaga holds the advantage ATS with a record of 7-2-1. Gonzaga held the advantage in field goals, rebounds, and three-pointers one time in the last five matchups. On the other side of the court, BYU never accomplished this feat in that span.
Predictions: SU Winner – BYU, ATS Winner – BYU, O/U – Over
Notes
Gonzaga is 2-4 ATS in its last 6 games.
Gonzaga is 5-0 SU in its last 5 games.
The total has gone OVER in 5 of Gonzaga’s last 5 games.
Gonzaga is 5-0 SU in its last 5 games at home.
Gonzaga is 7-2-1 ATS in its last 10 games when playing BYU.
The total has gone UNDER in 8 of Gonzaga’s last 10 games when playing BYU.
The total has gone UNDER in 6 of Gonzaga’s last 7 games when playing at home against BYU.
Ranked 20th, the Gonzaga Bulldogs have an offensive rating of 116.6. The BYU Cougars rank 136th with a defensive rating of just 99.9.
The BYU Cougars average 74.4 possessions per game and 1.140 points per possession. The Gonzaga Bulldogs earn fewer possessions with 69.0, but they score more points with 1.166.
Gonzaga has an average effective field goal percentage of 55.1%. BYU is 3-2 when opponents have a similar or higher effective field goal percentage.
On average, Gonzaga attempts 19.0 three pointers and BYU attempts 23.0. Both teams have winning records when they have 20 or more three point attempts. The Gonzaga Bulldogs sit at 6-2 and the BYU Cougars are 11-4.
BYU ranks 46th in the nation with an assist-to-turnover ratio of 1.34. Gonzaga is ranked lower at 157th with an A/TO of 1.08.
Gonzaga ranks 114th in offensive rebounds, while BYU ranks 16th in defensive rebounds.
The BYU Cougars make an average of 6.2 steals per game. When the Gonzaga Bulldogs give up 6 or more steals, they are a fantastic 7-2.
