Sweet Sixteen: Gonzaga and West Virginia Play Out West

Can Zags Handle WVA Gritty Defense

The West Virginia Mountaineers and the Gonzaga Bulldogs battle on Thursday at the SAP Center in San Jose, California. Gonzaga is bracing itself for the challenge West Virginia’s defense presents.  West Virginia caused Notre Dame to commit 14 turnovers in their 2nd round matchup. Notre Dame was second nationally turning the ball over 9.5 times a game. Gonzaga has to play heads up as they had 13 turnovers against the Northwestern in the last round of the NCAA Tournament. Oddsmakers opened the Bulldogs as -3-point favorites versus the Mountaineers, while the game’s total opened at 146.5. Gonzaga is still a 3-point favorite, but the total has climbed to 150. In their last action, Gonzaga was a 79-73 winner in the NCAA Tournament 2nd round against the Northwestern Wildcats. They failed to cover the -10-point spread as favorites. Nigel Williams-Goss has a better than 2-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio This season. He has 161 assists and 72 turnovers. Josh Perkins has less favorable numbers with 113 assists and 68 turnovers. Perkins handles the ball a good portion of the time, so look for the Mountaineers to pressure him. West Virginia won its NCAA 2nd round matchup, a 83-71 result, against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish on March 18. They covered in that game as a -3-point favorite. West Virginia leads the nation in turnovers forced per game at 20.1. They force their opponents to turn the ball over on 28 percent of their possessions, which leads the nation.

Sweet Sixteen Betting Trends

West Virginia: Team record: 28-8 SU,16-16-1 ATS West Virginia is 1-4 ATS in its last 5 games West Virginia is 5-1 SU in its last 6 games The total has gone OVER in 4 of West Virginia’s last 6 games Gonzaga: Team record: 34-1 SU,23-10-1 ATS Current Streak: won 5 straight games. Gonzaga is 17-7-1 ATS in its last 25 games Gonzaga is 2-4 ATS in its last 6 games Gonzaga is 5-0 SU in its last 5 games Get all of your College Basketball Odds at Bovada Online Sportsbook.