College Basketball Betting – (3) Gonzaga at Saint Mary’s

(3) Gonzaga Bulldogs (-6, 137 o/u) at Saint Mary’s Gaels

The No. 3 Gonzaga Bulldogs (27-1, 15-0 WCC) will try to stay undefeated inside the West Coast Conference as they visit the Saint Mary’s Gaels (20-6, 12-3 WCC) tonight at McKeon Pavilion (10:00 p.m. Eastern).

Gonzaga’s lone setback this year came on the road against then-No. 3 Arizona in overtime back in December. The Zags have had some close calls since then, including a 78-76 nail-biter at Pepperdine, and a surprisingly tough 77-63 win at Santa Clara. But they have managed to get the job done against each and every WCC team they’ve faced so far.

With three games still left on its conference schedule, Gonzaga has already clinched at least a share of the regular season title. A win tonight would clinch the title outright.

“We have a share now and we have Saturday to try to win it,” said coach Mark Few. “That’s our first goal every year and it’s a big goal.”

The Saint Mary’s Gaels are second in the WCC at 12-3. They are on a two game winning streak after beating Portland and San Diego in their last two outings, but they were run out of the building when they traveled to Spokane in late January, losing 68-47.

The team will be looking to boost its potential tourney resume which, at this point, doesn’t even have them on the bubble by most accounts.

Of course, coach Randy Bennett is doing his best to keep his Gaels calm, which isn’t easy when your fiercest rival and the No. 3 team in the nation invades.

“When Gonzaga comes in, it’s already a circus,” Bennett told the school’s official website. “It should be an exciting night but we can’t get caught up in the excitement of the night. We’ve got to get caught up in playing right.”

Saint Mary’s has lost seven straight games against ranked opponents — five of those to Gonzaga – and is just 2-5 ATS in its last seven games at home against the Bulldogs.

Gonzaga has had some trouble putting teams away on the road, but St. Mary’s hasn’t exactly been dominant at home this year, dropping games to Pepperdine, Boise State, and (very surprisingly) Northern Arizona. Expect the deep Bulldogs to distance themselves in the second half.

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