The BYU Cougars welcome the Gonzaga Bulldogs at home a little over two weeks since these two teams last met. Will the Cougars stun Gonzaga? Or will the Bulldogs score another easy victory over BYU? Check out our preview below of this Gonzaga-BYU WCC college basketball showdown.
Gonzaga remains unstoppable in WCC play. They are undefeated so far against their league mates after crushing the Portland Pilots last Saturday at home, 104-72. The Bulldogs will be dealing with the San Diego Toreros on the road this Thursday, and a win in that game for Gonzaga is virtually a foregone conclusion. As of this writing, the Bulldogs are second in the nation with 123.5 points per 100 possessions and own the No. 1 effective field goal percentage (60.6%) in Division I basketball. Gonzaga also easily defeated the Cougars at home earlier this month, 110-84, as 14.5-point favorites. In that game, Drew Timme carved up BYU’s defense for 30 points, while guard Andrew Nembhard had 22 points. Chet Holmgren didn’t even need to put up an impressive performance in that contest, as he only had 12 points. Look for the Bulldogs to annihilate BYU again, with Timme and Holmgren leading the show. Timme is averaging 18.1 points this season, while Holmgren is generating 13.9 a game.
Gonzaga is 6-2-2 against the spread in its last 10 games against the Cougars.
The Cougars are on some sort of a tailspin having lost both of their last two games. After losing to the Santa Clara Broncos (77-76), BYU got defeated by the Pacific Tigers, 76-73. The Cougars have a chance to recover this Thursday at home versus the San Francisco Dons. Whatever the result of that game against the Dons for the Cougars, BYU will be needing more than momentum to beat a seemingly unbeatable WCC opponent. The Cougars hope that their outside shooting continues to click against Gonzaga. In the first meeting this season with the Bulldogs, BYU went 13/29 from deep. Alex Barcello led the Cougars with 19 points with four 3-pointers. On the season, BYU is shooting 37.1 percent from behind the arc in WCC play. If the Cougars could get hot at home from the 3-point area, which they are very much capable of, they could find themselves surprisingly playing Gonzaga closer than what most people expect.
BYU is 3-4-3 against the spread in its last 10 games as the home team against the Bulldogs.
