NCAA Tournament Southeast Region Third Round
#3 BYU Cougars vs #11 Gonzaga Bulldogs
Pepsi Center, Denver, CO
Saturday, March 19, 2011, 7:45 pm Eastern, TV: CBS
Opening Line: BYU -1
Current Line: Gonzaga -1 1/2
Opening Total: 149
Current Total: 149
Money Line: Gonzaga -130 / BYU +110
These two teams will be conference rivals next season as BYU leaves the Mountain West and joins the West Coast Conference. BYU will get a taste of what life in the WCC will be like as they take on Gonzaga, long the class of the conference. The #3 seed BYU Cougars are 31-4 on the season and tied for the Mountain West title with San Diego St with a 14-2 record. However several weeks ago, BYU center Brandon Davies was suspended for the rest of the season violating the school’s strict honor code for having premarital sex with his girlfriend. Davies was the Cougars’ third leading scorer and leading rebounder. BYU hasn’t been the same team since and has been leaning heavily on national player of the year candidate Jimmer Fredette. The Cougars beat a game Wofford team 74-66 in the second round Thursday. Fredette scored 32 points, and added 4 rebounds and 7 assists to lead the Cougars. Gonzaga was in doubt to make the tournament as recently as 3 weeks ago. The Bulldogs have won 10 straight games. They are 25-9 overall and the Bulldogs tied with St. Mary’s for the WCC crown. Gonzaga beat St Mary’s in the WCC Championship to guarantee a spot in the tournament. Gonzaga upset St. John’s 86-71 in the second round. The Bulldogs outrebounded the Red Storm 41-18 in the rout. Guard Marquise Carter scored 24 points to lead the Bulldogs. The winner of this game will play the winner of Florida and UCLA in the Sweet 16 in New Orleans next week.
Gonzaga and BYU have never played in basketball before. Of course, that will change next year when they will play at least twice a year. Gonzaga is 2-5 this against teams that qualified for the NCAA Tournament with wins over Marquette and Xavier. BYU is 6-2 against tournament teams. Gonzaga is 10-3 ATS with one day or less rest this season. BYU is 4-14 ATS in all tournament games the last 3 seasons.
Gonzaga has no significant injuries right now. The Bulldogs are led by guard Steven Grey. Grey is averaging 13.8 points, 3.9 rebounds, 3.9 assists, and 1.7 steals a game. Grey leads the team in scoring, assists, and steals. Center Robert Sacre averages 12.4 points, 6.3 rebounds, 1.1 assists, and 1.8 blocks a game. He leads the team in blocks and rebounds. Forward Elias Harris averages 12.2 points, 5.9 rebounds, and 1.4 assists a game. Gonzaga is outscoring opponents 77-65 on the season. The Zags are shooting 47.9% from the field and 36.6% from 3-point range. Gonzaga opponents are shooting 39.8% from the field. The Bulldogs make 75.9% of their free throws. Gonzaga averages 37.4 rebounds a game and have a rebounding margin of +5.9. Gonzaga averages 15.3 assists and 13.5 turnovers a game. They force 14.7 turnovers a game on defense. The Bulldogs average 7.4 steals and 3.8 blocks a game.
Besides being without Davies, BYU has also been playing with out reserve forward Chris Collinsworth since conference play began. He is out for the season with a knee injury. Collinsworth averaged only 16 minutes a game and scored 5.9 points a game, but he was one of the Cougar’s top rebounders with 5.6 a game. His little brother Kyle also plays for the Cougars. BYU guard Jimmer Fredette is the team leader. Fredette is averaging 28.6 points a game to lead the nation in scoring, 3.5 rebounds, 4.3 assists to lead the team, and 1.3 steals a game. He is shooting 39.9% from 3 point range and 88.9% from the free throw line. Guard Jackson Emery averages 12.5 points a game, 3.6 rebounds, 2.6 assists, and leads the team in steals with 2.7 a game. Noah Hartsock averages 8.5 points, 6 rebounds to lead the team, and also leads the team in blocks with 1.7 a game. BYU is outscoring opponents 81-68 on the season. The Cougars shoot 45.1% from the field and 36% from 3-point range. Cougar opponents are shooting 41.3% from the field. BYU shoots 76.1% from the free throw line. BYU averages 38.7 rebounds a game and has a rebounding margin of +3.3. The Cougars average 14.5 assists and 11 turnovers a game. They force 14.4 turnovers a game on defense. BYU averages 7.9 steals and 4.1 blocks a game.
Though BYU is struggling to rebound with Davies and Collinsworth, they still have the dangerous Fredette who can get hot and single handily beat some teams. Gonzaga thoroughly dominated St. john’s on the boards and could do the same here against BYU. The Cougars must rebound by committee. BYU has been using basically a 6 0r 7 man rotation since Davies was suspended so depth and fatigue could be an issue. This should be a great game.
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