No one has really come close to beating the Gonzaga Bulldogs in WCC play so far. They are very much the likely winners of the conference when everything is said and done, but the Loyola Marymount Lions have the chance to shock the rest of the nation this coming Thursday at home. Read on for a preview of this game, where at press, latest college basketball future odds price the away team at +600 to win the 2019 Men’s NCAA Basketball Tournament while the home team is in non-factor come March.
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Betting Preview for the Gonzaga Bulldogs vs. Loyola Marymount Lions College Basketball Game on February 14, 2019
Where: Gersten Pavilion, Los Angeles
When: Thursday, February 14, 2019, 9:00 PM ET
Line: Gonzaga Bulldogs (odds) vs. Loyola Marymount Lions (odds) – view all NCAA Basketball lines
TV Broadcast: ESPN
Betting on the Gonzaga Bulldogs (23-2 Overall / 10-0 Conference)
Another game, another massacre of a win for the Bulldogs. Last Saturday, Gonzaga fell the Saint Mary’s Gaels at home with a dominant 94-46 victory. It was a masterclass on both ends of the floor for Gonzaga. The Bulldogs went 35-for-60 from the field for a 58.3 percent shooting. They outrebounded the Gaels, 42-31, and had a ridiculous +21 advantage in the assists department, 22-1. The Bulldogs crushed the Gaels on offense and suffocated them on defense, with Saint Mary’s going just 25.9 percent from the field. It was pretty much the same story when Gonzaga had a cakewalk of a win against Loyola Marymount back in January, downing the Lions, 73-55, in Spokane. All but one of the Bulldogs’ starers scored at least 10 points against the Lions, with Zach Norvell leading them all with 17 points. Gonzaga is the deadliest scoring team in the conference and the No. 1 scoring team in the nation with 91.4 points per game and an effective field goal percentage of 59.6.
Gonzaga is 16-6 against the spread (ATS) in games after a win and 14-3 ATS on the road so far this season.
Betting on the Loyola Marymount Lions (17-8 Overall / 5-6 Conference)
The Lions prevented a three-game losing skid after downing the Portland Pilots on the road last Saturday, 72-55. Prior to that, Loyola Marymount absorbed back-to-back losses at the hands of the BYU Cougars and the San Diego Toreros. The win over the Pilots gives the Lions a needed confidence-booster heading into a showdown with Gonzaga. There’s no easy way for Loyola Marymount to beat a team like the Bulldogs, but the Lions showed they can rattle Mark Few’s team at least in some moments defensively. In the first meeting with Gonzaga, the Lions recorded nine steals and forced the Bulldogs to commit 16 turnovers. That’s more than the Bulldogs’ average of 10.4 turnovers per contest. After all, Loyola Marymount is one of the best defensive teams in the nation, with just 63.1 points allowed per game. They are also second in the conference in terms of opponents’ turnover percentage and steal percentage.
The total has gone over in eight of the Lions’ last 10 home games.
Writer’s Prediction
Gonzaga wins, 80-64.
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