The Gonzaga Bulldogs won the WCC regular season title again, and they will now look to defend their conference tournament championship. As for the Pepperdine Waves, this tournament is their only chance to make it to the Big Dance. A win over Gonzaga this Monday would certainly be a shocker of epic proportions. Going into the game, Gonzaga has +550 odds to win the 2019 National Championship.
Betting on the Pepperdine Waves (16-17 Overall / 6-10 Conference)
How about them Waves? No. 8 seed Pepperdine upset No. 4 seed San Francisco Dons Saturday night, 89-72, to advance to the next round of the WCC tournament. Sophomore guard Colbey Ross came up huge, as consistently delivered the goods for the Waves throughout the contest. He finished the game with a game-high 26 points on 7-for-13 shooting from the field with four 3-pointers. He also got plenty of support with four other Waves having double-digit productions. Hopefully for the Waves, the momentum will carry over into the rematch with Gonzaga, as they are going to need it – a lot. In the first and only meeting with Gonzaga thus far this season, Pepperdine made just 38.2 percent of their shots and only went 5-for-8 from the foul line. Ross had 12 points, while Darnell Dunn had 16 in a 92-64 road loss last month. A better rebounding effort for Pepperdine should make it a more competitive game this Monday. The Waves only had 29 rebounds to 38 by Gonzaga in the February meeting.
Pepperdine is 2-0 against the spread (ATS) in its last two games.
Betting on the Gonzaga Bulldogs (29-2 Overall / 16-0 Conference)
Gonzaga had a cakewalk in conference play. The Bulldogs went undefeated in WCC play, completing a 16-0 straight up (SU) record after downing the Saint Mary’s Gaels on Saturday, 69-55. Gonzaga doesn’t just beat opponents. It crushes them. In fact, the Bulldogs are tops in the nation in scoring margin with plus-24.9 mark. They beat WCC teams by a record mark of 27 points. And a big reason to that is their unforgiving offense that swallows opposing teams whole. The Bulldogs are pacing the nation with 89.8 points per game. Against the Gaels, Josh Perkins and Rui Hachimura scored 19 and 17 points, respectively, while Brandon Clarke had 15 points, seven rebounds, and four blocks. As a team, Gonzaga shot 52.8 percent from the field, though, it was salty from deep, going just 2-for-13 on 3-point shots. Gonzaga can straighten out that minor kink in the rematch with Pepperdine, which had no answers to the Bulldogs’ offense last month. In that game, Gonzaga recorded an incredible 62.7 percent shooting from the floor. No surprises there. After all, Gonzaga has the NCAA-best 53.4 field goal shooting percentage.
Gonzaga is 3-2 against the spread (ATS) in its last five meetings with Pepperdine.
