The Gonzaga Bulldogs (+800 to win the 2020 Tournament) are ruling the West Coast Conference like they own it. They don’t, and that’s what the No. 23 BYU Cougars will look to make Gonzaga realize when they host Mark Few’s boys at home this weekend. Will the Bulldogs go 2-0 straight-up in their regular-season series against BYU? Or will the Cougars trip up Gonzaga and even things up between the two teams?
Betting on the Gonzaga Bulldogs (26-1 Overall / 12-0 Conference)
Gonzaga will have to face the San Francisco DOns at home first this Thursday before taking on the Cougars the following day. But the Bulldogs already have a good idea of how it’s like to play BYU. After all, they’ve defeated them at home in Spokane last January, 92-69. Some expected that game to be a shootout, and if it was, it appeared as though the Bulldogs carried the bigger guns. They shot 56.1 percent from the field, hit nine of 21 attempts from long range, and went 19 of 25 from the free throw line. And they did all that with their best player playing just 15 minutes. Filip Petrusev hurt his ankle early after the halftime break and did not return and chipping in just five points, though, he wasn’t really needed to with other Bulldogs stepping up. Killian Tillie mustered 22 points, while Corey Kispert had 19 points. The Bulldogs also won the rebounding battle by a wide margin, 37-21, which was to be expected as they are third-tallest team in the nation, while the Cougars are 75th overall. Petrusev is now healthy and ready to go, so expect the Bulldogs to be a more imposing team to deal with for BYU.
The Bulldogs are 6-4 against the spread (ATS) in their last 10 road games.
Betting on the BYU Cougars (21-7 Overall / 10-3 Conference)
The Cougars were unranked when Gonzaga beat them last January. That’s changed now, as the Cougars will enter Saturday’s game as the No. 23 team in the nation after going on a six-game win streak prior to a date with the Santa Clara Broncos at home this Thursday. They should be able to take care of the Broncos, who own a sub-.500 record in conference play. Apart from being ranked, the Bulldogs will also face Gonzaga with one of their best offensive weapons — if not the best — ready to play. Forward Yoeli Childs, who sat out the first meeting with Gonzaga due to an injury, is back in action, and he just scored 17 points on 8 of 13 shooting in a recent 72-71 squeaker of a win on the road against the San Diego Toreros. In 15 games played this season, Childs has managed to average 20.7 points per game, while also being a big help for the team on the glass, as the 6-8 senior is also leading the team with 8.4 rebounds per game. He’s going to be a big key for the Cougars in preventing Gonzaga from dominating the rebounding battle the same way they did back in January by adding a much-needed muscle down low. The Cougars are 10th in the nation with 79.4 points per game and second with a 58.7 effective field goal percentage.
