The Gonzaga Bulldogs hardly played the part of a No. 1 seed through their first two NCAA Tournament games failing to cover the closing pointspread against South Dakota State and Northwestern. Should they not be able to improve upon their overall play in the Sweet 16 back on the west coast, Huggy Bear’s West Virginia Mountaineers will be more than happy to send the Zags back home disappointed with their tails between their legs.
Don't miss this Sweet 16 showdown from the SAP Center in San Jose at 7:39 ET on Thursday, March 23. Catch every moment of the game live on TBS.
Sweet 16 Odds at BookMaker.eu
West Virginia Mountaineers +3 -115
Gonzaga Bulldogs -3 -105
Over/Under 148
Odds Analysis
With the Mountaineers forced to travel all the way to the left coast and the SAP Center much closer for the Spokane faithful to get to, the Zags opened up as 3 point favorites with the game total set at 146.5.
The pointspread has seen no movement whatsoever, but you only have to pay -105 juice if it’s the West Region top seeds you’re interested in backing. Early reports find 56 percent of the wagers taken backing Gonzaga. The total has seen a good bit of early movement with it jumping up to an even 148 points. It has the look of moving even higher with 83 percent of the tickets written expecting a high scorer.
How They Got Here
West Virginia finished up the Big 12 regular season in second place behind only the Jayhawks. It made it to the finals of the conference tournament, but fell to Iowa State 80-74 a week removed from just beating them in Morgantown 87-76. They failed to cover all three of their games in the Big 12 tournament to fall to 1-6-1 against the spread in their last eight games.
Another pointspread defeat was tallied in the first round of the dance against Bucknell whom it just couldn’t stop from putting points on the board. Though it won the rebounding battle 40-27 and shot nearly 46 percent from the floor, it only managed the 86-80 win as 13.5 point favorites. Jevon Carter helped end the team’s woes against the linemakers by scoring a team-high 24 points to lead WVU to the impressive 83-71 win and cover against Notre Dame as 3 point favorites.
The Zags were huge moneymakers in the regular season. After they pounded St. Mary’s for a third straight time in the WCC tournament finals, they looked to be in solid form and ready to make a statement in the dance. Unfortunately, the only statement made was they still just might not be ready to handle the pressure that goes along with being a No. 1 seed.
The team only found itself up 26-22 as 23 point favorites against South Dakota State in the first round. They did go on to win by 20 points, but hardly looked good in doing so. Everything once again looked right for the Bulldogs early on against Northwestern, but what looked to be money in the bank for those that laid the 10 points quickly turned into a nightmare in the second half. A once 18 point halftime lead was trimmed to single digits with seven minutes remaining, and the Zags were forced to hold on for the 79-73 win. The defense gave up 53 second half points after only allowing 20 the first 20 minutes.
Comparable Games of Note
These programs haven’t run up against one another since December of 2013 when the Zags went into Morgantown and scored the 80-76 win and cover as 2.5 point road chalk. Their only meeting in the NCAA Tournament occurred in 2012 when the Mountaineers got destroyed 77-54 as 1.5 point favorites. Gonzaga has won and covered each of the last three most recent meetings.
Iowa State checks in as the only similar opponent each of these teams faced this season.
West Virginia scored double digit wins and covers against the Cyclones in the regular season before falling to them as 4 point favorites in the Big 12 tournament finals. All three games cashed over tickets. Gonzaga battled the Clones on a neutral court and went into the break up 15 points, but allowed Iowa State to outscore them 37-24 in the second half handing those that backed the Bulldogs laying the 4.5 points a tough to swallow defeat. The 73-71 final combined to go under the 151.5 total.
The last time the Mountaineers made it to the Sweet 16, they were embarrassed by the Kentucky Wildcats 78-39 as 13.5 point underdogs. It was a bitter defeat for the program considering it hadn’t qualified for the Big Dance the previous two seasons. Gonzaga has made it to the Sweet 16 four times dating back to 2000. They’re 3-1 straight up and 2-2 against the spread in those contests with the most recent occurring last season when the Zags dropped a 63-60 decision to Syracuse as 4 point favorites. The year prior, they won and covered their Sweet 16 tilt against UCLA before going onto fall to Duke in the Elite 8.
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