Zags Favored by 3.5 in Gonzaga vs Kansas Odds

• College basketball heavyweights Gonzaga and Kansas will meeting the second round of 2024 March Madness
• Without leading scorer Kevin McCullar Jr, Kansas held off Samford 93-89
• But the Gonzaga vs Kansas odds favor the Zags, who obliterated upset-minded McNeese

Two perennial Final Four contenders will meet in the second round of the NCAA Tournament as the #5 Gonzaga Bulldogs battle the #4 Kansas Jayhawks at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City, Utah.

While Kansas survived the absence of leading scorer Kevin McCullar Jr in its 93-89 win over #13 Samford, they enter the round of 32 as underdogs to Gonzaga, who ran #12 McNeese out of the building on Thursday night (86-65).

Gonzaga vs Kansas Odds

The Bulldogs have opened as a 3.5-point favorite in the Gonzaga vs Kansas odds and are -180 to advance to the Sweet 16 for the fifth time in the last six tournaments. Kansas comes back as a +150 underdog while the game total has opened as 151.5.

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Purdue, the #1 seed in the Midwest, remains a +160 favorite to win the region in the Final Four odds. Gonzaga is now +600 while Kansas improved to +1000.

Gonzaga Dispatches McNeese With Ease

A popular upset pick heading into the first round, the #12 McNeese Cowboys had any hopes of a Cinderella run extinguished early. Gonzaga carved up their overly aggressive defense, opening up a double-digit lead by the 12-minute mark and never looking back en route to an 86-65 victory.

Graham Ike was a perfect 6-of-6 from the field for 16 points while also grabbing ten rebounds and the Zags crushed the Cowboys on the glass (38-31). The Zags were a red-hot 48% from three (10-of-21) led by a three triples from two-guard Nolan Hickman.

Ryan Nembhard added eight points and nine assists, his fourth straight game with at least nine dimes.

The Zags moved up from 15th at KenPom to 12th after the decisive victory.

Gonzaga didn’t play any Big 12 opponents during the regular season, but does own an 89-85 win at Kentucky. Kansas (with McCullar) beat Kentucky by an eerily-similar score (89-84) on a neutral court in Chicago.

Kansas Survives Samford Comeback Bid

In the first half of Kansas’ title with #13 Samford, concerns over McCullar’s absence appeared to be overblown. The Jayhawks led by as 10 at the break and stretched that lead to 21 early in the second half. But Samford would mount a furious comeback attempt that narrowed the score to 79-78 with five minutes still to play.

Kansas wouldn’t allow the Bulldogs any closer thanks in part to a blown call late.

Kansas up 90-89 with 15 seconds left and this 100% clean block was called a foul 🥴 #MarchMadness pic.twitter.com/mZ0Uah1LDc

— Bad Sports Refs (@BadSportsRefs) March 22, 2024

The good news for Kansas fans is that Hunter Dickinson, who missed KU’s last game with a shoulder injury, was back at full speed. The Jayhawks center had a monster 19-point, 20-rebound double-double in the win along with five assists and four blocks.

Forward KJ Adams had a team-high 20 points on an efficient 10-of-13 performance from the field.

The poor second half from Kansas is going to feed into concerns over this team’s ceiling without McCullar, who led KU in scoring at 18.3 PPG. While McCullar and Dickinson were out, Kansas fell to Cincinnati in embarrassing fashion in the Big 12 Tournament (76-56). On the whole, the Jayhawks were just 3-3 without McCullar before the narrow win over Samford.