Northwestern Wildcats at Gonzaga Bulldogs Free Pick - Betting Odds
Betting Odds
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The 8th seed Northwestern Wildcats face the top-seed Gonzaga in a West Region 2nd round NCAA Tournament game that will take place at a neutral site at the Vivint Smart Home Arena in Salt Lake City, Utah Saturday March 18th at 5:15 PM ET. The lines maker has posted Gonzaga on the NCAA betting board at -10.5 points with an O/U line of 136.5 points.
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Northwestern is coming off a 68-66 win over Vanderbilt in the first round of the NCAA Tournament where they covered the spread as a 2-point underdog. The total number of points scored in the game was 134, which was over the closing line of 129.5. The Wildcats have covered the spread in three of their last four games and in their last four games the total has gone over every time. Northwestern has won three of their last four games.
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Gonzaga is coming off a 66-46 win over South Dakota State in the first round of the NCAA Tournament where they failed to cover the spread as a 23-point favorite. The total number of points scored in the game was 112, which was well under the closing line of 157. The Bulldogs have failed to cover the spread in two of their last three games and in five of their last six games, including their last two, the total has gone under. Gonzaga has won their last four games.
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Offensively, Northwestern is putting up 71.1 points per game on a 43.7% FG average. On the defensive side of the ball the Wildcats are allowing 65.1 points per game on a 40.2% FG average.
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Gonzaga is putting up 84.6 points per game, which ranks 13th in the nation, on a 51.4% FG average, which ranks 2nd in the nation. On defense the Bulldogs are allowing 61.2 points per game, which ranks 7th in the nation, on a 36.6% FG average, which ranks 2nd in the nation.
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This is the first ever meeting between these two teams.
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Northwestern Wildcats at Gonzaga Bulldogs Betting Trends<br />
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The game total has gone under in 9 of Northwestern’s last 14 games as an underdog.
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Gonzaga is 11-3 against the spread in their last 14 Saturday games.
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The game total has gone under in 14 of Gonzaga’s last 19 Saturday night games.
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The game total has gone under in 18 of Gonzaga’s last 25 non-conference games.
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Public Money Consensus<br />
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In this NCAAB matchup between Northwestern and Gonzaga have the public leaning to the home Bulldogs minus the 10.5 points with 72% on board. The over/under bettors believe this game will go over the posted total line of 136.5 with 84% on board.
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Northwestern Wildcats at Gonzaga Bulldogs Prediction
Northwestern capitalized on Vandy’s mistakes to pull out a tight two-point win, but my opinion is that they’re overmatched in this spot. They’ve played well enough on neutral courts going 5-2 beating a good Dayton teams and two narrow losses against by four to Notre Dame and two to Butler. Gonzaga’s NC record is even better going 8-0 beating Arizona, Iowa State and Florida along the way. The matchup issue that stands out is the rebounding. It is a rarity for the Zags to lose the battle on the glass and I believe they will crush Northwestern in that metric on Saturday. In two of the last two games that the Wildcats were outboarded by 12 or more they were outscored 142 to 98 with the lowest margin of victory being 16 points. This may be a better play for a two team teaser (maybe with MTSU), but I’ll take a small shot laying the big lumber.