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It will be Bracket Busters come early this Friday when the Gonzaga Bulldogs host the Creighton Blue Jays. These are traditionally two of the top smaller schools in the nation and this year is no exception as they are both ranked after some impressive wins. The winner of this meeting will get a nice boost to its NCAA Tournament resume.
This war on the floor will go down Friday, December 1, 2017, at 10 p.m. ET at the McCarthey Athletic Center in Spokane, Washington. The game will be televised live on ESPN2. We'll have NCAA basketball odds at BookMaker.eu available for this and every game on the college basketball Friday schedule.
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The Bulldogs have to be feeling good after their performance at the Phil Knight Invitational. Gonzaga entered PK80 at 3-0 with big wins over Texas Southern, Howard, and Utah State, and crushed Ohio State in its opener. In their second game, they took a great Florida team to double overtime before succumbing to the depth of the Gators, and then outlasted Texas for third place in their bracket. Gonzaga covered in all three games.
Creighton has looked very good in the early going too. The Blue Jays knocked off a good Northwestern team on the road and then scored a double-digit win against UCLA in the Hall of Fame Classic. Unfortunately, they blew a nine-point halftime lead against Baylor in the final of the Hall of Fame Classic or else they would be undefeated at this point.
Coaching Angle
These are two of the best mid-major programs in the countries and have fantastic coaches that have decided to stay despite bigger schools trying to lure them away.
Creighton is coached by Doug McDermott, who replaced Dana Altman back in 2010. The Blue Jays gave McDermott a 10-year deal after his success at Northern Iowa and he has rewarded them with NCAA Tournament appearances in four of his seven years on campus. Creighton was having its best season yet last year, getting off to an 18-1 start with the lone loss coming to No. 1 Villanova, before star guard Maurice Watson Jr. was injured.
The Bulldogs had their best season yet under Mark Few last year, and that’s something considering the standard he has set. Few led Gonzaga to the school’s first Final Four appearance last season and then beat South Carolina in order to meet North Carolina in the title game. Unfortunately, the dream season came to an end against the Tar Heels, but it showed just how far this team has come.
Players to Watch
Gonzaga is now Johnathan Williams’ team. The Missouri transfer is leading the team in scorer and was the team’s go-to guy against Florida. In that game, Williams was unconscious from the field. He went 16-22 from the floor and was able to consistently break down the Gators defense. Williams took down 12 rebounds and was the player the Bulldogs relied on in crunch time.
Marcus Foster took over as the leader for Creighton last season after Watson was injured and helped steer this team toward the postseason. Foster has had his troubles this season and that almost cost the Blue Jays against Northwestern and did against Baylor. However, there’s no denying how important he is.
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The Bulldogs are going to be a decent favorite in this game. They have a great home court advantage and their fans always relish the opportunity to see Gonzaga take on a quality opponent.
They won’t have the rest that Creighton will though. Creighton will have five full days off before its game against Gonzaga, whereas the Bulldogs will host Incarnate Word on Wednesday night.
Still, this Gonzaga team has some very good depth and will be able to use that to get the cover against Creighton.
College Basketball Odds: Gonzaga 88, Creighton 76
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