(9) Gonzaga vs. UCLA
Time: 10 PM ET
TV: ESPN2
Spread: GON -6
M/L: GON -250, UCLA +210
Total: 146
Betting odds courtesy of Bovada
No. 9 ranked Gonzaga is 8-1 on the season and will travel to face UCLA in a game that NCAA basketball oddsmakers favor the Bulldogs by six-points at UCLA’s Pauley Pavilion.
Despite the Bruins 7-0 record at home this year, the club finds itself facing one of the best teams in the nation in the Zags.
Steve Alford is looking for his 500th career victory while the Bruins are seeking to extend its non-conference winning streak to 22 games.
Zags coach Mark Few said that the team would encounter “superior talent” in a tough environment, and said the game would prove to be another big challenge for his team. Kevin Pangos and Gary Bell Jr. were red hot from behind the arc to start the year, combining to have hit 29-of-63 over the first seven games. Over the last two, however, both hit just 1-of-3 from three-point range in the 66-63 OT loss to Arizona last Sat. In the 81-66 win over Washington, Bell was 1-of-5 from the floor and Pangos went 0-of-6 from the floor for his first career goose egg.
Gonzaga has other talent on its team though. Big man Przemek Karnowski filed the void by putting up 22 points and Kyle Wiltjer contributed 21 points. Byron Wesley hit 10-of-14 from the floor for an outlying 20 points, based on his previous meager contributions.
Few just said Wesley was “unbelievable.” If he continues to shoot like that, the Bulldogs will be able to weather any struggles that Pangos and Bell encounter, but obviously with the entire team clicking on all cylinders, it is a team that is in the running for Final Four type play this year.
Pangos has fallen off some this season from his 14.4 points per game last year. He’s still an effective player but has seemingly gotten away from the model of play that gave him open looks. Gonzaga has five players averaging double figure scoring and that balance should serve them well against the Bruins.
UCLA’s starting lineup ranks No. 1 in D-1 schools at 71.7 points per game, but the Bruins bench contributes just 9.8 points per game. Against Riverside and San Diego, the UCLA bench was outscored a combined 38-7, and these are hardly juggernaut schools. Tony Parker said the bench is young and the starting five has to pick up the pace. Parker had 16 points and 16 boards in the win over Riverside, but added “we got to bring our energy and that’s tough for a young team.”
Gonzaga’s second unit could be the key to this game. The Zags get 25.9 points from its bench and the Bruins have the next four games on the road following tonight’s contest. Next Saturday, it will face vaunted Kentucky in a game that should prove to be a watershed moment for a team that is trying to assert itself as a legitimate top-10 team, or even a number 1 seed in March. Gonzaga is just 13-14 in road non-conference games since 2004-05, though, and a six-point spread isn’t a lot of room as seen in the college basketball point spreads.
The game will air at 10 PM Eastern Standard Time on ESPN 2.
BETTING TRENDS:
Gonzaga Bulldogs: Gonzaga is 2-7-1 Against the Spread in its last 10 vs. the Pac-12. The UNDER is 17-6 in Gonzaga’s last 23 road games. The UNDER is 35-14-2 in Gonzaga’s last 51 Saturday games.
UCLA Bruins: The UNDER is 9-4 in UCLA’s last 13 home games.
