The Gonzaga Bulldogs pay the Santa Clara Broncos a visit seeking another win. The Broncos, meanwhile, have an opportunity to score a titanic upset that will surely look good on their March Madness resume. Check out our preview below of this Gonzaga-Santa Clara WCC matchup on Saturday.
Gonzaga has moved further away from their upset loss at the hands of the Alabama Crimson Tide last December, as they have gone 5-0 straight up since. In their latest outing, the Bulldogs buried the Pepperdine Waves in a 117-83 victory at home on Jan. 8. It’s the best scoring performance by Gonzaga this season, and while that might be hard to top, the Bulldogs might just do it this coming Saturday against Santa Clara, which doesn’t have the firepower of their WCC rivals. Against Pepperdine, Chet Holmgren and Drew Timme did what many expected them to do, which was dominate on offense, Holmgren, who’s virtually a lock to be an NBA lottery pick, scored 18 points, while Timme also had 21 markers. Gonzaga is second in the nation with 87.9 points per game and will be playing the BYU Cougars at home on Thursday before focusing its attention on the Broncos.
Gonzaga is 2-1-1 against the spread in its last four road games.
Santa Clara has yet to play this 2022, as of this writing due to COVID-related issues. But the Broncos are slated to play the Pacific Tigers this Wednesday, which would be their first in over three weeks. Even though they aren’t as stacked as Gonzaga, the Broncos have a pretty decent offense. They are 56th in the nation with 110.2 points per 100 possessions and 20th in effective field goal percentage (55.2). Santa Clara is also a threat from the outside, as the Broncos are shooting 37.6 percent from behind the arc. They don’t attempt a lot from the 3-point region, but the Broncos often make those few tries count, just line in their 79-57 win on Dec. 21 over the San Jose State Spartans in which they shot 5/18 from long range.
Santa Clara, which takes on the Pacific Tigers on Wednesday on the road, is 5-4-1 against the spread in its last 10 home games.
