Gonzaga fell to No. 2 in the new AP Poll on Monday but remains No. 1 in the USA Today Top 25. The Zags haven’t lost a home game in years and they aren’t going to on Thursday, either, but Loyola Marymount is solid enough to cover a big spread on the NCAAB odds.
How to Bet Loyola Marymount at Gonzaga NCAA Basketball Odds & TV Info
- When: Thursday, 11 PM ET
- Where: McCarthey Athletic Center
- TV: CBS Sports Network
- Stream: Paramount+
- Radio: Tunein.com
- Opening NCAAB Lines: Gonzaga -27 (total 158)
Last Meeting
First meeting of the season – they were supposed to play New Year’s Day at Loyola but it was postponed. Last year, they only played once and the Zags rolled 86-69 at home. This is the 99th meeting between the programs and the Zags own the all-time series 77-21. GU has won 24 straight versus the Lions. LMU’s last win in the series came on Feb. 18, 2010, 74-66, in L.A. The Bulldogs have won 31 in-a-row in Spokane in the series, including all 18 in the McCarthey Athletic Center.
Why Bet on Loyola Marymount?
Loyola (9-8) was blown out by Saint Mary’s 83-51 on Saturday. Eli Scott scored first to give LMU a 2-0 lead, and Joe Quintana gave the Lions a second lead at 4-2 before Saint Mary’s rattled off 15 unanswered points. The Gaels went on a 22-2 run that increased their lead to 18 points. The game was basically over at that point. The Gaels shot 54 percent (32-for-59) compared to the 35 percent (17-for-48) from the Lions.
Loyola Marymount totaled 25 second-half points, a season low for the team. Cam Shelton had 12 points for the Lions and Jalen Anderson 12. Quintana scored only four points despite coming into the matchup as the Lions’ second-leading scorer at 14 points per game. He was 0 of 4 from 3-point range.
Quintana is 13th in the conference averaging 13.3 points per game. His 3.0 made 3-pointers per game lead the league, along with his 7.1 attempts. He’s making 42.5 percent of his shots behind-the-arc which is ninth. The senior tops the WCC shooting 94 percent (47/50) from the free-throw line.
Eli Scott averages a team-best 16.7 points, 6.6 rebounds and 3.4 assists. He is fifth in the WCC in scoring and minutes played (34.6), seventh in rebounding, and ninth in assists. Scott was named to the Preseason All-WCC Team, the Watch Lists for the 2022 Karl Malone Award and the 2021-22 Lou Henson National Player of the Year Award, and a top-30 candidate for the Senior CLASS Award.
Scott is the only LMU player with 1,000+ points, 600+ rebounds, and 300+ career assists. LMU was picked to finish fourth in the Preseason WCC Coaches Poll. Dameane Douglas’ season ended prematurely due to injury for the second consecutive season.
With the additions of David Carter and Allen Edwards, LMU is one of only a handful of college programs in the country to have two former head coaches as assistants. Carter won 98 games as the head coach of Nevada and Edwards totaled 60 wins as Wyoming’s head coach.
The Lions don’t have the size to hold up if this gets into a rebounding war, but LMU is an active team that will force a slew of mistakes and is strong enough at defending the three to not roll over.
Why Bet on Gonzaga?
The Zags (15-2) haven’t played since last Thursday when they beat an excellent San Francisco team 78-62. Freshman Chet Holmgren scored 22 points, grabbed nine rebounds and blocked four shots and Drew Timme had 23 points – 18 in the second half. It was Gonzaga’s eighth consecutive victory and the 62nd in a row at home, the longest streak in the nation. It was also the Bulldogs’ 22nd straight win over the Dons, dating to 2012.
The Zags have won 25 straight conference games, which is the longest active streak of its kind in the nation. Gonzaga’s last league loss was a 91-78 setback at BYU on Feb. 22, 2020.
The Bulldogs are 4-0 in WCC play for the 10th straight season; they have been 5-0 the past seven seasons. Timme is fifth in the nation shooting 63.4 percent from the field. He is three rebounds away from 500 in his career. Holmgren is seventh in the country with 58 blocks and averaging 3.4 blocks per game, and eighth shooting 73.9 percent from inside-the-arc.
GU is first in the nation in scoring offense (90.2), field goal percentage (53.5), https://mybookie.ag/sportsbook/ncaa-basketball/indiana-hoosiers/and in defensive rebounds (31.71), second in scoring margin (24.0), assists per game (19.3), third in rebounds per game (42.2), fifth in rebound margin (9.8), and sixth in assist to turnover ratio (1.59).
The Zags are first in KenPom’s rankings (second offensive efficiency and 14th efficient defense. The Bulldogs boast a 61-7 record all-time as the No. 1 ranked team.
Game Trends
- Lions are 10-3 ATS in their last 13 road games vs. a team with a winning home record.
- Lions are 16-5 ATS in their last 21 games following a straight up loss.
- Lions are 10-4 ATS in their last 14 road games.
- Bulldogs are 3-1-1 ATS in their last 5 home games.
- Bulldogs are 2-5-2 ATS in their last 9 Thursday games.
- Road team is 5-1 ATS in the last 6 meetings.
Expert Prediction
- Gonzaga 87, Loyola Marymount 64
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