Gonzaga Needs One Win to Reach First-Ever Final Four
On Saturday Elite Eight actions tips off when the No. 11 seeded Xavier Musketeers play the No. 1 seeded Gonzaga Bulldogs with the winner moving on to the Final Four. The current line has Gonzaga favored by 8 points with the over/under point total on 145.
Entering this game, Xavier is 6-4 straight up and 7-3 against the spread in its past 10 games, while Gonzaga is 9-1 SU and 4-5-1 ATS in its past 10 played.
A win by Gonzaga would be its first Final Four trip in school history, while Xavier looks to become only the fourth No. 11 seed to move through to a Final Four.
Xavier upsets Arizona in the Sweet 16 with a 9-0 run to end the game rallying from 7 points down. Malcolm Bernard said he and his teammates have worked through adversity the entire season and looks forward to reaching the Final Four.
Gonzaga reached the Elite Eight with a 3-point win over No. 4 seed West Virginia. The Bulldogs have lost just once all season and hope to make school history with a win Saturday night.
Xavier is led by Trevon Bluiett. The junior guard scored 25 against Arizona and now is averaging 18.2 points per game. Bernard added 15 points against the Wildcats, which was his career high. J.P. Macura a junior guard, is second on Xavier in scoring with an average of 13.8 points per game.
Guard Jordan Mathews hit a 3-pointer to put Gonzaga ahead the final time in its 61-58 victory over the Mountaineers. Gonzaga held West Virginia to just 26.7% shooting from the floor.
The Gonzaga leading scoring is point guard Nigel Williams-Goss, who is averaging 16.5 points per game. He leads the team in assists as well with an average of 4.7 per game.
Three Bulldogs average between 5.7 and 6.6 rebounds per game helping Gonzaga out rebound its opponents by over 7.3 per game.
All-time, Gonzaga is 3-1 against Xavier.
Mathews has an average of 14.3 points per game for Gonzaga in the tournament including 9 made 3-pointers.
Xavier is 7-0 ATS in its past 7 games played and 5-0 ATS in its past 5 games as a dog.
Gonzaga is 5-2-1 ATS in its past 8 games versus non-conference opponents.
Prediction: Gonzaga appears to have a team that can finally reach a Final Four. The Bulldogs should handle the Cinderella of the tournament and move on. Lean here for a straight up win by Gonzaga.
