March Madness – (11) UCLA vs. (2) Gonzaga

(11) UCLA Bruins vs. (2) Gonzaga Bulldogs (-8.5, 145 o/u)

The No. 2 Gonzaga Bulldogs (34-2, 17-1 WCC) are back in the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2009. Their opponent this time around is a team not many expected to be in the tournament, let alone reach the second week, the No. 11 UCLA Bruins (22-13, 11-7 Pac-12). The Zags and Bruins will square off on Friday, March 27, at NRG Stadium in Houston (7:15 PM Eastern).

The Bulldogs have had starkly different showings in their two tournament games to date. In their opener against No. 15 North Dakota State, the Bulldogs couldn’t shake the scrappy Bison for the better part of 40 minutes, ultimately emerging with a closer-than-it-sounds ten-point win (86-76) despite being nearly 20-point favorites.

In the Round of 32, however, the Zags took out any lingering frustration on No. 7 Iowa, torching the Hawkeyes for 46 points in the first half and taking a 17-point lead into the break before cruising to an 87-68 ATS win.

Kyle Wiltjer has been downright dominant all season for Gonzaga and kept up his Player of the Year-caliber play against Iowa, scoring 24 points on 10/12 shooting while adding seven rebounds.

Senior point guard Kevin Pangos – who is in his fourth tournament as a starter – also had a big game, piling up 16 points (including 4/7 from three), three assists, and two rebounds.

“There’s no greater feeling than this because I haven’t been able to experience it, and most of the guys in the locker room haven’t,” Pangos said of reaching the Sweet 16. “So for us to be able to get past this is definitely a great feeling. But it’s not like we were stressing over what people were talking about. We just wanted to do it selfishly for ourselves and our fan base.”

There was no shortage of critics and naysayers when the Bruins were slotted into the field as an 11-seed by the Selection Committee. But back-to-back wins over No. 6 SMU (60-59) and No. 14 Alabama-Birmingham (92-75) have silenced the doubters.

The 92-point outburst against the Blazers was a full 20-point more than UCLA’s season average. Forward Tony Parker had career-high 28 points in the win (and grabbed 12 rebounds to boot), while three-point assassin Bryce Alford added 22 points and five assists.

“The Selection Committee thought we were good enough to play in this tournament, and I think we proved it,” Parker said after the game.

Despite the impressive victory on the weekend, the Bruins may not come into Friday’s game a confident bunch. Gonzaga already traveled to Los Angeles in December and beat UCLA going away, 87-74. UCLA had no answer for the Zags shooters, who connected at nearly 60-percent from the floor in the game.

The Bulldogs are 8.5-point favorites in the rematch (at the moment) and the over/under is at 145 points. The key to the game is going to be the Zags’ shooting. If they connect at their usual clip, they shouldn’t have a problem winning and likely covering. If they tense up under the lights in the Sweet 16 – which often happens – look for UCLA to not only cover, but have a good shot at the upset.

(Photo credit: SD Dirk (flickr) [https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/legalcode]. Photo has been cropped.)