Wichita State vs Gonzaga March Madness Pick

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The top-ranked Gonzaga Bulldogs (32-2 straight-up, 17-13-2 against the spread) avoided a giant upset on Thursday and look to advance to the Sweet 16 with another victory in the NCAA Tournament against the ninth-seeded Wichita State Shockers (24-8 SU, 15-14-2 ATS) on Saturday in third-round West Regional action at EnergySolutions Arena in Salt Lake City, Utah. The Bulldogs found themselves in a tie game vs. No. 16 seed Southern with less than four minutes remaining but were able to hang on for a 64-58 win. Earlier in the day, Wichita State drilled Pittsburgh 73-55 as 4-point underdogs.

While the Shockers had no problem with Pitt, Gonzaga struggled mightily and had to make the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee question its decision to give the Bulldogs a No. 1 seed in the Big Dance following that performance. The Committee already set up a difficult third-round game for Gonzaga with arguably the best 8-9 matchup in the field, and Wichita State will provide quite a challenge with a berth in the Sweet 16 on the line.

The Bulldogs looked like they would pull away from the Panthers for good when they went up 52-41 with 9:32 left in the game. But Southern fought back and scored 13 of the next 15 points to pull even at 54-54. Fortunately for Gonzaga, star center Kelly Olynyk scored 17 of his 21 points in the second half and managed to stay in the game despite picking up four fouls. Olynyk will need to assert himself much earlier against Wichita and avoid foul trouble in order to dodge another upset bid here.

The Shockers had a much easier time with Pittsburgh, leading 26-21 at halftime and then using a 12-4 run after the intermission to go up 45-35 with 10:31 remaining. Wichita’s defense was the real story though, limiting Panthers leading scorer Tray Woodall to only two points 1-of-12 shooting, including 0-for-5 from 3-point range. Malcolm Armstead led the Shockers with 22 points while Cleanthony Early had 21.

Wichita has now won three of four but has dropped four of six against the number. The total has gone OVER in four of the team’s last five games and might have trouble following that trend against the Bulldogs, who have seen the UNDER go 15-1-1 in their past 17. Gonzaga is riding a 15-game winning streak but has failed to cover two of three after going 3-0-1 ATS to close out the regular season.

The big question is, will everybody overreact to the Bulldogs struggling in the second round, or are they really overrated? Wichita State definitely has what it takes to pull off the upset, so here’s the verdict…

Pick: Wichita State 67, Gonzaga 66