Gonzaga vs Brigham Young NCAA 2013

WEST COAST CONFERENCE 

#2 GONZAGA BULLDOGS (-5.5) VS BRIGHAM YOUNG COUGERS 

This West Coast Conference matchup is scheduled to tip-off at 11PM EST on ESPN2 for all you night hawks. With a win the Gonzaga Bulldogs (27-2) would continue a perfect season against West Coast opponents, while Brigham Young (20-9) is aiming for revenge at home after losing to the Zags just a little over a month ago. Oddsmakers have listed Gonzaga as 5.5-point favourites, a total I am giddy to take given how the Bulldogs have been playing as of late. 

The Cougars are going to have their hands full when Gonzaga enters town tonight. The Bulldogs have looked unbeatable as of late winning their tenth in a row last week and have seemingly locked up a #1 seed when the NCAA tournament begins. As for the Cougars they have been unpredictable going 3-3 across their last six and seem to rely heavily on their offense to propel them to victory. They are averaging 77.3 points per game (15th in the nation) but in 7 of their 9 losses this season they failed to eclipse the 70 point mark; a total they will struggle reach against this Gonzaga defense. The Zags are 37th in the nation giving up only 60.2 points per game, and  haven’t allowed an opponent in their last ten games to score over 65 points. 

I expect that the Cougars are going to struggle against Gonzaga’s defense tonight. In order to succeed they will have to spread the floor, isolated their strongest shooters and limit the turnovers. All things that are going to be extremely difficult to accomplish given the ability the Bulldogs have to get in the face of shooters. The Zags defense is limiting opponents too 38.9% from the field, 27th in the nation. While they haven’t allowed a team to shoot 40% against them in their last five games, something that should be unsettling to all those Cougars fans; BYU is 2-5 when they shoot less than 40%.

Watch for both Kelly Olynyk and Kevin Pangos to both have huge games. These two Canadian born players are the leaders on this Zags roster, and the major reason this squad is 27-2. Olynyk leads the WCC with the best field goal percentage (66%), while Pangos has the highest percentage from beyond the ark at 44.8%. Helping Gonzaga rank as the 2nd best shooting team in the country at 50.9%. They should both have outstanding performances again tonight, keeping Gonzaga undefeated in West Coast play this season. 

TRENDS 

GONZAGA 

BYU 

• 1-4 against the spread in their last 5 games at home
• 1-6 against the spread when avenging a road loss against an opponent the last 3 seasons
• 2-4 against the spread versus good offensive teams scoring 77+ PPG this season