Broncos vs Bulldogs College Basketball Lines
West Coast Conference play starts up Saturday. The Gonzaga Bulldogs have won 19 straight conference games at home and will be looking for number 20 versus Santa Clara on Saturday night. [ad-4468020]
Santa Clara Broncos (7-6) @ Gonzaga Bulldogs (10-2)
When: Saturday, December 28th, 2013,
Where: McCarthey Athletic Center, Spokane, Washington
Broadcast: ESPNU
Spread: Gonzaga Bulldogs -16.5
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The Santa Clara Broncos come in with some momentum after winning 4 of their last 5 games.
Gonzaga is a very efficient offense. Gonzaga is 16th in the nation scoring 85.3 points per game. Gonzaga is 3rd in the nation in field goal % shooting 52.2%, and in three point % Gonzaga is 5th in the nation hitting 43.5%.
Their defense isn’t nearly as good, but it’s been solid given the kind of competition they’ve played. The Bulldogs have given up 70.8 points per game, which is 183rd in the nation, but they don’t give their opponents easy looks. Opponents are only hitting 40.9% of their field goals which is 89th in the nation, and when their opponents do miss, Gonzaga cleans up the boards. Gonzaga grabs 28.2 defensive rebounds a game which is 42nd in the nation.
Santa Clara isn’t nearly as good on offense or defense. Santa Clara scores 73.7 points per game, which is a decent amount, but they only hit 43.4% of their field goals which is good for 232nd in the nation.
Defensively, Santa Clara ranks in the triple digits in all of the major categories. Santa Clara gives up 68.5 points per game (134th in the nation), and they allow 45.9% of field goal (281st). And Santa Clara hasn’t played the best of competition. When they play Gonzaga look for the Bulldogs to put up a few points.
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Players to watch: For Gonzaga, the star player is junior guard Kevin Pangos. Pangos leads the team with 18.3 points per game, 4.4 assists per game, and 3.2 rebounds per game. Senior center Sam Dower has scored 13.8 points per game, and leads the team with 6.8 rebounds. Junior guard Gary Bell Jr. has contributed 13.5 points per game himself.
For Santa Clara, junior guard Brandon Clark is the team’s leading scorer at 15.8 points per game. Freshman guard is 2nd on the team in points with 14.7 points per game. Senior forward Jerry Brown is 4th on the team in scoring (9.3 points per game) and he is the team’s leading rebounder (6.7 rebounds a game).
In the last 8 games, Gonzaga has won straight up in 7 of those games. Against the spread, both teams have each won 4 games. In Spokane, Washington, though, Gonzaga is 3-1 ATS.
Danny’s FREE College Basketball Pick:
All in all, I like Gonzaga in this one. Gonzaga has faced the much better competition and they has looked pretty good. Santa Clara hasn’t. While Santa Clara has looked better of late, their competition has been poor.
Earlier in the season Notre Dame handled Santa Clara, UNLV last week put a real beating on Santa Clara. Good teams have beaten Santa Clara up and Gonzaga is a good team. This is the first conference game of the year, the McCarthey Athletic Center should be rocking and that should be enough for the Bulldogs to cover versus the Broncos of Santa Clara.
Pick: Gonzaga Bulldogs -16.5
