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The Gonzaga Bulldogs take on the Pepperdine Waves. Check out our college basketball odds series for our Gonzaga Pepperdine prediction and pick. Find how to watch Gonzaga Pepperdine.
The Gonzaga Bulldogs are clearly not what they once were. A program with a track record of remarkable consistency in terms of consecutive NCAA Tournaments and consecutive West Coast Conference championships has fallen out of the Associated Press Poll for the first time in a very long while. Gonzaga's loss to Santa Clara last week — the first loss to the Broncos in over a decade — knocked GU out of the top 25. Mark Few had a No. 1 seed at Gonzaga in 2017, 2019, 2021, and 2022. That kind of track record makes this season the outlier for the Zags, who have to find ways of functioning more effectively at both ends of the court. The West Coast Conference race has rarely been more fluid and more up for grabs than it is this year, given Gonzaga's inability to bring down the hammer and take full control of this conference. It will be fascinating to see how the Zags and their competition respond over the next several weeks.
Here are the Gonzaga-Pepperdine College Basketball odds, courtesy of FanDuel.
College Basketball Odds: Gonzaga-Pepperdine Odds
Gonzaga Bulldogs: -11.5 (-110)
Pepperdine Waves: +11.5 (-110)
Over: 156.5 (-112)
Under: 156.5 (-108)
How To Watch Gonzaga vs Pepperdine
Time: 10:00 pm ET / 7:00 pm PT
TV: ESPN Plus
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Stream: fuboTV (click for a free trial)*
Why Gonzaga Could Cover the Spread
The Zags aren't especially strong this season, but Pepperdine is a very weak team. The Waves are 9-10 through 19 games, and two of their wins are against non-Division I teams, meaning that they have only seven wins against D-I opposition so far this season. Pepperdine lost by 22 points to the lowly Louisville Cardinals, who are likely to fire head coach Kenny Payne at the end of the season. Pepperdine has scored two recent wins in the West Coast Conference, but those wins came against Pacific and San Diego, two of the less formidable teams in the league. Pepperdine just doesn't have anything which suggests the Waves can defend the Zags consistently for 40 minutes. Pepperdine might have a good 10- or 15-minute sequence, but it will be hard for the Waves to play anything more than 25 really solid minutes here. In the 15 minutes the Waves don't play well, Gonzaga figures to dominate so decisively that an 11.5-point spread should not be hard at all for the Zags to cover. The Zags aren't a tremendous road team, but Pepperdine doesn't figure to have an especially tough home-court element. The Waves have rarely been a top-tier contender in the WCC, so Gonzaga should not be intimidated by this environment in Malibu.
Why Pepperdine Could Cover the Spread
The Gonzaga Bulldogs just aren't particularly good this season. They lack the high-end stars they had in previous seasons when they were a top-three seed in the NCAA Tournament. Not having that anchor who settles everyone down, gets the clutch basket whenever needed, plays elite interior defense, and makes his teammates better has been profoundly impactful for GU in a negative way. It makes sense. This is one of those in-between years which has slipped through the cracks. It happens at some point for virtually every major college basketball program. North Carolina recently had such a team. Kentucky has had such teams under John Calipari. This year it's Gonzaga's turn.
Final Gonzaga-Pepperdine Prediction & Pick
The Zags aren't great, but Pepperdine is awful. Take Gonzaga.
Final Gonzaga-Pepperdine Prediction & Pick: Gonzaga -11.5
