2012 NCAA Tournament
Round of 64 – East Region
Thursday, 3/15/12, 7:20 p.m. Eastern, TV: TNT
#7 Gonzaga Bulldogs (25-6, 13-3 West Coast) vs. #10 West Virginia Mountaineers (19-13, 8-8 Big East)
CONSOL Energy Center – Pittsburgh, PA
Opening Line: Gonzaga Pick’em
Current Line: Gonzaga -1
Opening Total: 131
Current Total: 132.5
Odds Courtesy of Bookmaker
The seventh-seeded Gonzaga Bulldogs will count on a freshman guard who is their leading scorer to bounce back in Thursday’s East Region matchup with the 10th-seeded West Virginia Mountaineers. The Bulldogs (25-6, 13-3 West Coast) are hoping Kevin Pangos can forget his last performance when he faces the experienced Mountaineers (19-13, 8-8) in his first NCAA tournament game.
Pangos scored 30 points against BYU in the West Coast Conference tournament semifinals and led Gonzaga (-1, O/U 132.5) with 13.8 points per game during the season. But he totaled just seven in the WCC title game against St. Mary’s on March 5, missing 15 of 18 shots from the field in a 78-74 overtime loss. The Ontario native made only 1 of 10 shots he took from 3-point range while junior forward Elias Harris picked up the slack with 22 points and senior center Robert Sacre added 17.
Harris and Sacre will be appearing in their third straight Big Dance and have enjoyed some success in their previous two trips. The Bulldogs have won their first game in each of the past two years, with both players stepping up at times. The duo combined for 35 points in an 89-67 loss to BYU in the third round last year after they beat St. John’s 86-71 in the second.
West Virginia is coming off a 71-67 overtime loss to defending national champion UConn in the second round of Big East tournament last Wednesday. The Mountaineers won the Big East tourney two years earlier when they also made a run to the Final Four, where they lost 78-57 to eventual national champ Duke.
Two seniors who contributed to that squad are leading the way again this season. Top scorer Kevin Jones (20.1 ppg) and point guard Darryl “Truck” Bryant are two of five upperclassmen for West Virginia, and the only seniors. This year’s tourney is extra special for Bryant, who broke his foot before the 2010 Final Four, missing the team’s last three games. Last year, the Mountaineers were bounced by Kentucky 71-63 in the third round, as Jones was limited to just eight points and Bryant fouled out.
Both teams that will take the court in Albuquerque have struggled against the spread lately. West Virginia is 4-9 ATS in its last 13 games compared to Gonzaga’s 4-10-1 mark in it past 15. There are a couple positive trends favoring a high-scoring game though. The OVER is 11-1-1 in the last 13 neutral site games for the Mountaineers and 19-6 in the past 25 NCAA tournament games for the Bulldogs.
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