Gonzaga Bulldogs vs St Mary’s Basketball Picks

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It’s a battle of West Coast Conference rivals when the #5 ranked Gonzaga Bulldogs travel to Saint Mary’s to take on the Gaels. Both teams come into this game red hot and atop the West Coast Conference standings.

Gonzaga (10-0, 23-2), comes into this game having won 6 in a row since their one point loss back in mid January at the hands of Butler. The Zags are lead in scoring by their 7 foot big man Kelly Olynyk. He was unstoppable when Gonzaga and Saint Mary’s met earlier this year. The big man had 31 points in the Bulldogs 83-78 victory. His size was too much for Saint Mary’s in that first meeting which saw the Bulldogs nearly blow a 20 point second half lead. He will be heavily relied on again this Thursday night when these two clash. Gonzaga can also get it done on the outside as well. Sophomore guard Kevin Pangos scored 22 points in the first meeting on 8 of 12 shooting.

Saint Mary’s (10-0, 21-4), has won 9 in a row since losing to Gonzaga. Their comeback bid against Gonzaga back in January was lead by Stephen Holt who had 23 points on an impressive 9 of 14 shooting. The Gaels balanced attack sees them with four players averaging double digits. Their leading scorer is Matthew Dellavedova who is averaging 15.9 points per game while shooting nearly 39% from 3 point land. He had 14 points against the Zags earlier this year.

So we have two teams playing some great basketball meeting for the second time this season in a key conference game. It really doesn’t get any better than this. If Saint Mary’s can find ways this time around to slow down Zags big man Olynyk they have a chance to beat the #5 ranked Bulldogs. I expect the Gaels to throw double teams at him and give him different looks defensively all game to slow him down. In what shapes up to be a fantastic game I like the Gaels in a thriller 83-82.