Gonzaga Bulldogs NCAA Basketball Betting
Last year, the Gonzaga Bulldogs made the Sweet 16 for the fourth consecutive season. Since 2015, the Bulldogs have made three Sweet Sixteens, three Elite Eights, and two championship games. But in 2025, the Zags took a big step back, losing in the second round to the Houston Cougars. Now that NIL and the transfer portal are out of control, it is a legitimate question as to how well head coach Mark Few and his program will perform. Gonzaga has been able to hide in the West Coast Conference, which is top-heavy and lacks quality depth. In the future, Gonzaga will have to compete agaisnt the richer schools to win their elusive first national championship.
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2025 Gonzaga Bulldogs Season Recap
Overall, the Gonzaga Bulldogs are 26-8 straight up, 13-18 against the spread, and 18-13 over/under the total. Gonzaga has national metrics of 2nd for scoring offense, 4th for field goal percentage, 161st for 3-point field goal percentage, 6th for free throw percentage, and 40th for offensive rebounding. While defensively, Gonzaga is 103rd for scoring defense, 54th for field goal percentage permitted, 17th for 3-point field goal percentage allowed, and 54th for defensive rebounding.
Lately, Gonzaga has covered six of its previous nine games and has gone over the total in five of its last six outings. First among Gonzaga scorers is Graham Ike, with 17.3 points per game.
LJ Cryer matched a career-high with 30 points, including two free throws with 14.2 seconds left, and No. 1 seed Houston held on to beat eighth-seeded Gonzaga 81-76 on Saturday night to reach the Sweet 16 for the sixth straight NCAA Tournament.
J'Wan Roberts added 18 points, and Milos Uzan made two last free throws with 2.1 seconds left, giving the Cougars their 15th consecutive win and pushing them into a regional semifinal against No. 4 seed Purdue on Friday night in Indianapolis.
Houston also ended Gonzaga's nine-straight Sweet 16 streak, the longest active streak in the nation.
The Bulldogs trailed 76-67 with just over 2 minutes to go when Graham Ike made two free throws to start their comeback bid, and most of it wound up coming at the foul line. And when Uzan turned the ball over and Khalif Battle made two free throws of his own, the Bulldogs had pulled to 77-76 with 21 seconds remaining.
Houston got the ball to Cryer, who was fouled, and he made both of his free throws to extend the lead. At the other end, Ja'Vier Francis stuffed Battle's tying 3-point try from the corner, and Uzan knocked down his foul shots to seal the win.
Ike finished with 27 points for the Bulldogs. Battle scored 17 and Ryan Nembhard had 10 points and 11 assists.
Given that no program has won more games than Gonzaga and Houston over the past eight seasons, it seemed as if their second-round matchup in the Midwest Region would have been better suited for the second weekend.
Or even the Final Four, where the Bulldogs and Cougars were on opposite sides of the bracket in 2021.
Yet for much of the game, Houston looked every bit deserving of its No. 1 seed and Gonzaga its spot at No. 8. The Cougars asserted their physical dominance on the perennial West Coast power. At the same time, Cryer - the Big 12 player of the year - poured in 16 first-half points to give Houston a 35-27 lead at the break.
Roberts, who sprained his ankle in last week's conference tournament, took over in the second half. The winningest player in Cougars history began bullying his way to baskets, allowing the Cougars to maintain their lead.
Gonzaga made one final run down the stretch but could never overtake them.
Gonzaga was second nationally in scoring at 86.7 points per game and surpassed that in an 89-68 rout of Georgia in the first round. But the Bulldogs finished short of that mark against Houston's trademark defense.
Latest NCAA Tournament Results
| YEAR |
RESULT |
| 2025 |
Lost Second Round vs. (1) Houston 76–81 |
| 2024 |
Lost Sweet Sixteen vs. (1) Purdue 68–80 |
| 2023 |
Lost Elite Eight vs. (4) UConn 54–82 |
| 2022 |
Lost Sweet Sixteen vs. (4) Arkansas, 68–74 |
| 2021 |
Lost National Championship vs. (1) Baylor, 70–86 |
| 2019 |
Lost Elite Eight vs. (3) Texas Tech, 69–75 |
| 2018 |
Lost Sweet Sixteen vs. (9) Florida State, 60–75 |
| 2017 |
Lost National Championship vs. (1) North Carolina, 65–71 |
2024-2025 NCAA Basketball Top Teams
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