The Pacific Tigers will look to get back at the Gonzaga Bulldogs. The Badgers lost the first meeting with Gonzaga, but have a nice momentum going to East Lansing this Tuesday, while the Spartans are aiming to recover from a recent setback. Check out our preview below of this Pacific-Gonzaga Big Ten college basketball game.
Pacific will face its toughest test this season. After losing to the USC Trojans on the road Tuesday, 74-68, the Tigers travel to Spokane for a matchup against arguable the best team in the nation. Gonzaga certainly is the heavy favorite in this game, but beating the spread should be a more attainable goal for the Tigers. Pacific shot just 43.5 percent from the field in the USC game, but won the rebounding battle, 38-29. While not anywhere near the level of Gonzaga’s offense, Pacific nonetheless is elite in terms of taking care of the leather in WCC play. In fact, the Tigers are No. 1 in the conference with just a 14.9 turnover percent. Alphonso Anderson is Pacific’s top scorer this season, and he will look to sustain his form following an encouraging performance against the No. 21 Trojans. Anderson scored 22 points with nine rebounds in 34 minutes in the USC game. The center/forward is averaging 10.9 points per game this season.
The Under is 6-3-1 in Pacific’s last 10 games on the road.
It looks like Gonzaga is going to have another walk in the park type of game this coming Thursday. Gonzaga has just crushed the BYU Cougars last Saturday in Provo, 90-57 . Prior to that, the Bulldogs clobbered the San Diego Toreros in a 30-point victory on the road. Now, the Bulldogs return home looking to gave their home fans a show. The last time they were in Spokane, the Zags torched the Portland Pilots in a 104-72 victory. There’s simply no team in the WCC who could challenge the Bulldogs this season, and Pacific should just be another easy assignment for Drew Timme and company. Timme scored 13 points in the win over BYU, while NBA-bound Chet Holmgren led the team with a massive double-double of 20 points and 17 rebounds. Don’t be surprised if either Timme and Holmgren go off anew against Pacific, whose starting center, Anderson, only stands 6-6.
Gonzaga is 7-3 against the spread in its last 10 games overall.
