No. 6 Gonzaga hosts Saint Mary’s in a game with major West Coast Conference championship implications on Saturday.
The Bulldogs (21-1, 9-0 WCC), who sit alone in first place in the conference standings, have a chance to extend their lead in the race for the regular-season title and the No. 1 seed in the WCC tournament.
Saint Mary’s (19-3, 8-1) needs a win to stay within striking distance of Gonzaga, especially after the Gaels’ 64-52 loss at Santa Clara (18-5, 9-1) on Jan. 17.
Gonzaga is on a 14-game winning streak, including a 68-66 home win over San Francisco on Saturday. The Zags only loss of the season was a 101-61 setback against No. 3 Michigan last November.
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The Bulldogs lead the WCC and rank No. 15 in the country with 88.9 points a game. They’re also giving up the second-fewest points in the conference with 66.5 a game. They trail Saint Mary’s, which is surrendering 64.5 points a night. Gonzaga also leads the league with a .517 shooting percentage, 42.6 rebounds a game, a +4.68 turnover margin, and a 1.79 assist-to-turnover ratio.
Saint Mary’s ranks No. 3 in the WCC with 78.6 points a game, leads the league with a .810 free throw percentage, and ranks No. 2 with 39.6 rebounds a game.
Saint Mary’s Paulius Murauskas leads the WCC with 19.3 points a game. He’s followed by Gonzaga’s Graham Ike (18.1 PPG) and Braden Huff (17.8 PPG).
Gonzaga and Saint Mary’s have won or shared the past 24 WCC regular-season titles, and it looks like they’ll battle it out for the championship in the Zags’ final year in the league. Gonzaga is joining Oregon State, Washington State, Boise State, San Diego State, Fresno State, Utah State, Colorado State, and Texas State in the rebuilt Pac-12 later this year.
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Saint Mary’s at Gonzaga Odds
Gonzaga is a 9.5-point college basketball betting odds favorite on BetMGM as of this writing, and the Over/Under is 144.5 points.
The Moneyline is at -550 for Gonzaga and +400 for Saint Mary’s.
This is the 120th all-time meeting between Gonzaga and Saint Mary’s. The Bulldogs lead the all-time series 83-37, and they’ve won 27 of their past 36 meetings. The Zags are 58-17 against Saint Mary’s under head coach Mark Few.
Saint Mary’s at Gonzaga on TV
The West Coast Conference game featuring Saint Mary’s and Gonzaga will be televised on ESPN.
Tip-off is scheduled for 10:30 p.m. ET.
Saint Mary’s at Gonzaga Prediction
I predict Saint Mary’s wins, 87-82.
Gonzaga is expecting to have Ike back against Saint Mary’s after he missed the last three games with an ankle injury. That should give the Bulldogs a boost in one of their biggest games of the season, but Huff is still out after suffering a knee injury in early January.
The Bulldogs went with a smaller lineup and picked up three wins without Ike or Huff on the court, but they’re going up against the biggest, most physical team in the WCC. Murauskas (6-foot-8) is averaging 7.5 rebounds a game, 7-foot-3 center Andrew McKeever is almost averaging a double-double with 8.4 points and 9.4 rebounds a game, and 6-foot-7 freshman Dillan Shaw is adding 7.5 points and 4.7 rebounds a night.
Gonzaga has plenty of depth to lean on, and the Bulldogs have shown they can speed opponents up and win with a smaller lineup. They’re just going to struggle to hang in the paint.
