St. Mary's Gaels vs Gonzaga Bulldogs Prediction, 2/18/2021 College Basketball Pick, Tips and Odds

Game: St. Mary's Gaels vs Gonzaga Bulldogs

Date: Thursday, February 18, 2021

Location: McCarthey Athletic Center in Spokane, WA

TV: ESPN

Odds/Point Spread: St. Mary's (+20)

McCarthey Athletic Center is the venue where and the Gonzaga Bulldogs (20-0) will take on the St. Mary's Gaels (11-6) on Thursday. The spread on this matchup has Gonzaga as 20-point favorites. The over/under is set at 142.5.

St. Mary's heads into this one with a win-loss mark of 11-6 on the campaign. The Gaels are connecting on 31.7% on shots from 3-point land (115 of 363) and 71.3% from the free throw line. They currently have an average of 66.4 pts per contest (291st in Division 1) on 43.3% from the field. They cough up possession 11.0 times per contest and as a unit they are committing 17.0 personal fouls per game. As a team, St. Mary's is snagging 35.1 boards per game and is sitting with 189 dimes this season, which ranks 270th in Division 1 in terms of passing. On defense, the Gaels are forcing 12.0 turnovers per game while drawing 16.1 personal fouls. They are currently ranked 18th in Division 1 in giving up assists to the opposition with 133 conceded this year. The Gaels defense is allowing a field goal percentage of 41.9% (385 of 918) and they surrender 31.2 boards per game as a team. They relinquish 34.6% on three-point shots and they are 16th in D-1 in opponents points per game (61.8).

The St. Mary's Gaels took the court against the Pepperdine Waves and walked away from this one with a loss by a score of 60-58 in their last game. St. Mary's finished with a 37.5% FG percentage (21 of 56) and made 4 of their 24 three-point attempts. When they shot from the charity stripe, the Gaels made 12 of 18 shots for a percentage of 66.7%. Concerning pulling down rebounds, they earned 33 with 7 of them being of the offensive sort. They also recorded 7 dimes for this contest while earning 3 steals and 2 blocks. When it comes to the defense, St. Mary's allowed their opponent to shoot 37.5% from the floor on 21 of 56 shooting. Pepperdine distributed 13 assists and had 7 steals for the contest. Moreover, the Waves collected 40 boards (8 offensive, 32 defensive) and had 2 blocked shots. Pepperdine finished shooting 65.2% at the charity stripe by making 15 of 23 tries. They made 5 of their 17 tries from three-point range.

Matthias Tass is one player who was a contributor in this game. He was able to score 17 points on 8 out of 15 shooting. He saw the court for 32 mins and totaled 7 rebounds. Tass ended up shooting 53.3% from the field but finished the game without an assist. One more player that was a determining factor in this game for the Gaels was Logan Johnson. He snagged 5 boards and also tallied 2 assists. He finished 57.1% from the floor in this matchup by going 4-of-7 (12 points). Overall, Johnson was on the court for 35 minutes.

Gonzaga has a record of 20-0 on the year. The Bulldogs commit 17.0 personal fouls per game and they hit 72.9% from the charity stripe. They are dishing out assists 19.3 times per contest (3rd in the nation) and they turn it over 12.0 times per game. Gonzaga has totaled 1,861 pts on the year (93.1 per game) and they average 38.6 rebounds per game. On the offensive side of the court, the Bulldogs are connecting on 55.1% from the field, which ranks 10th in the nation. The Bulldogs on defense are ranked 150th in college hoops in points given up per game with 69.3. The Gonzaga defense concedes 33.3% from downtown (142 of 427) and opponents are converting on 71.4% of their shots from the free throw line. They have surrendered 11.7 assists and 30.6 rebounds on a nightly basis, which ranks 84th and 21st in those defensive categories. They are able to force 15.4 TO's per game and allow teams to shoot 41.1% from the field (76th in college hoops).

The last time they took the court, the Gonzaga Bulldogs went home victorious with a score of 100-61 when they faced the San Francisco Dons. The Bulldogs collected 28 defensive boards and 3 offensive boards totaling 31 in this contest. They turned away 6 attempts while recording 10 steals for this contest. The Dons committed 19 personal fouls in the matchup which got the Bulldogs to the charity stripe for a total of 21 shots. They were able to bury 18 of the free throw tries for a percentage of 85.7%. When it comes to shooting from 3-point land, Gonzaga converted 10 of 21 tries (47.6%). When the final whistle blew, the Bulldogs ended up shooting 36 out of 59 from the floor which had them shooting 61.0%. The Bulldogs permitted the Dons to convert 21 of 60 attempts from the floor which left them shooting 35.0% in the matchup. They finished 21.2% from three-point range by going 7 out of 33 and walked away from this one shooting 12 out of 15 from the free throw line (80.0%). With respect to rebounding, Gonzaga allowed San Francisco to grab 23 in all (7 on the offensive glass).

Drew Timme ended up being a factor for the Bulldogs in this contest. He made 11 out of 12 in the matchup giving him a field goal percentage of 91.7%, which had him sitting at 28 points. Timme snagged 10 rebounds in his 22 minutes and had 2 dimes for the matchup. Another guy that ended up playing a role for Gonzaga was Joel Ayayi. He was able to score 12 points in 30 minutes on the court by going 6 of 10 shooting in this matchup. Ayayi wrapped this one up going 60.0% from the field while also earning 2 assists and 5 boards.

Who will win tonight's college basketball game against the spread?

Josh Schonwald's Pick: Take St. Mary's (+20)

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