No. 1 Gonzaga Bulldogs vs. No. 15 Virginia Cavaliers: Injuries, odds, more
Gonzaga basketball is back in action on Saturday. The top-ranked Zags face No. 15 Virginia in Fort Worth, Texas. Pacific Northwest Sports has all you need to know.
PNWS presents what you need to know to enjoy the Saturday showdown between the top-ranked Gonzaga Bulldogs and No. 15 Virginia. ZagsNation will have to catch this televised special early. PNWS has all you need to know.
We generally don’t do pregame buildups for basketball at Pacific Northwest Sports. This game, however, is special. It pits the two of the Coaches Poll top 15 teams. A win in Texas cements the Bulldogs’ place at the top of the polls.
Who: Virginia Cavaliers (4-1) vs. Gonzaga Bulldogs (6-0).
Where: Dickies Arena – Fort Worth, Texas.
When: Saturday, December 26, 2020 – 1:00 p.m. PST.
TV: CBS.
Line: -7. Over/Under: 139.
Injuries: Gonzaga: No reported injuries. Virginia: Kody Stattman (undisclosed).
Interesting Trends: Gonzaga has lost one game in the last calendar year (27-1), including ten straight wins. They also won 17 of their last 21 and six straight on neutral courts. The Zags have gone over in 17 of their last 20 games.
Virginia is 12-1 in their last 13. The total has gone under in seven of their last nine.
Last Game
No. 1 Gonzaga Bulldogs 95 – Northwestern State Demons 57 (Monday, 12/21)
No. 1 Gonzaga Bulldogs 95 – Northwestern State Demons 78 (Tuesday, 12/22)
Gonzaga had Northwestern State (LA.) booked for Monday night. Since they were staying in Spokane anyway, the schools decided to make it a twofer. So they played Tuesday night as well.
Neither game was ever in doubt. The closest NWSU got was 7-2 on Monday night. The Zags had 20 point leads both nights. Considering their opponents had one win on the season going into the matchups, it was expected.
What wasn’t expected was that Northwestern State wouldn’t fade to dust in game two. They didn’t get to within more than 13 points, but the Zags did really put the Demons away either.
Head coach Mark Few did some experimenting. Monday he started 6-8 forward Anton Watson while Tuesday night’s starting lineup featured three guards with Andrew Nembhard replacing Watson. Corey Kispert led the Bulldogs in scoring with 27 points Monday night (also seven boards and three-for-five from behind the arc). Tuesday, Drew Timme led the way with 25 points.
No 16. Virginia Cavaliers 76 – William and Mary Tribe 40 (12/22)
Just like the Zags did with Northwestern State, the Cavs beat up on a small mid-major. UVA did their damage on Tuesday after their program took a pause on December 4 due to COVID-19 concerns. After taking a huge lead, Virginia cruised home with their fourth win on the season.
Guard Trent Murphy III led the way with 15 points. Cavs leading scorer. Freshman center/forward Kaden Shedrick had 10 paints and seven boards off the bench.
Outlook
Two different teams, two different philosophies. The Zags like to score early and often averaging 94.7 points-per-game. Meanwhile, Virginia gets after it on defense. They allow an average of 54 points, which is the fifth-best in the country.
UVA might have a great defense but they haven’t seen anything close to what Gonzaga can bring on a given night. For their part, the Zags are battle-tested against tough defenses after matchups with Kansas and West Virginia.
Gonzaga big man Drew Timme should have his way down low. When the defense sags to handle him, Joel Ayayi, Jalen Suggs, and Corey Kispert will take advantage of a sagging defense to rain threes from the outside.
We’ll have the results and our take on the game with Zags 360 on Sunday.