The 4th seed West Virginia Mountaineers face the top-seed Gonzaga Bulldogs in a West Region Sweet 16 NCAA Tournament game that will take place at a neutral site at the SAP Center at San Jose in San Jose, California on Thursday, March 23 at 7:39 PM ET. The oddsmaker has opened the Zags as a three point favorite over the Mountaineers and it has held that number. The total line opened at 147.5 but is now on the NCAA betting board at 148.5 points.
West Virginia is coming off an 83-71 win over Notre Dame in the 2nd round of the NCAA Tournament where they covered the 3-point line. The total number of points scored in the game was 154, which was over the closing line of 149.5. Previous to the Notre Dame game the Mountaineers had failed to cover the spread in four in a row and in their last three games the total has gone over every time. West Virginia has won five of their last six games.
Gonzaga is coming off a 79-73 win over Northwestern in the 2nd round of the NCAA Tournament where they failed to cover the spread as a 10.5-point favorite. The total number of points scored in the game was 152, which was over the closing line of 140. The Bulldogs have failed to cover the spread in three of their last four games, including their last two, and previous to the Northwestern game the total had gone over in two in a row. Gonzaga has won their last five games.
Offensively, West Virginia is putting up 82.1 points per game, which ranks 18th in the nation, on a 45.9% FG average. On the defensive side of things the Mountaineers are allowing 66.8 points on a 42.4% FG average.
Gonzaga is putting up 83.9 points per game, which ranks 14th in the nation, on a 51.2% FG average, which ranks 2nd in the nation. On defense the Bulldogs are allowing 61.1 points per game, which ranks 5th in the nation, on a 36.7% FG average, which ranks 2nd in the nation.
These teams last met in the 2013 season were Gonzaga beat West Virginia 79-73.
West Virginia at Gonzaga Bulldogs Betting Trends
- The game total has gone under in 8 of West Virginia’s last 12 games as an underdog.
- The game total has gone under in 10 of the Mountaineers last 15 games on Thursdays.
- Gonzaga is 13-2-1 in their last 16 Thursday Games.
- The game total has gone under in 9 of Gonzaga’s last 12 games vs. Big 12.
Public Money Consensus
In this NCAAB matchup between West Virginia and Gonzaga have the public leaning to the Bulldogs minus the 3 points with 59%. The over/under bettors are definitively on this game going over the posted total line 148.5 with 78% on board.
