Santa Clara Broncos vs Gonzaga Bulldogs Prediction, 1/8/2026 College Basketball Picks, Best Bets & Odds

Game: Santa Clara Broncos vs Gonzaga Bulldogs

Date: Thursday, January 8, 2026

Location: McCarthey Athletic Center in Spokane, WA

TV: ESPN2

The Santa Clara Broncos (13-4) are headed to McCarthey Athletic Center on Thursday where they will try to beat the Gonzaga Bulldogs (16-1).

The Santa Clara Broncos stepped onto the hardwood against San Diego and took home the win by a score of 98-70 in their last game. When talking about personal fouls, the Broncos walked away with 16 and San Diego accounted for 11 personal fouls. They made 9 out of their 24 tries from beyond the perimeter. San Diego walked away from this one shooting 69.2% at the charity stripe by knocking down 9 of 13 attempts. Furthermore, San Diego grabbed 23 rebounds (7 offensive, 16 defensive), but didn't record a block for the team. San Diego dished out 16 assists and had 7 steals for the matchup. Regarding defense, Santa Clara allowed the other team to shoot 43.3% from the field on 26 of 60 shooting. They also recorded 24 dimes for the game while forcing the opposition into 16 turnovers and having 13 steals. In the matter of grabbing rebounds, they collected 48 with 19 of them being of the offensive sort. At the free throw line, the Broncos converted 10 of their 10 attempts for a rate of 100.0%. Santa Clara ended the game with a 50.0% field goal percentage (37 of 74) and converted 14 of their 41 3-point shots.

Christian Hammond is one guy who was a contributor for this game. He ended up with 21 points on 9 out of 13 shooting. He played for 28 mins and pulled down 4 rebounds. He finished the game at 69.2% from the floor and recorded 2 dimes.

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Santa Clara comes into this one with a record of 13-4 on the year. They cough up possession 12.1 times per game and as a unit are committing 19.7 personal fouls per contest. As a unit, Santa Clara is collecting 37.1 boards per game and has accounted for 316 dimes on the season, which ranks 5th in Division 1 in terms of passing. The Broncos are shooting 32.8% on shots beyond the perimeter (169 of 515) and 70.7% from the charity stripe. They are averaging 82.5 points per game (87th in D-1) while going 46.7% from the floor.

Defensively, the Broncos are forcing 14.6 turnovers per contest and they draw 15.9 personal fouls. They relinquish 32.3% on shots from beyond the perimeter and they are ranked 108th in college in PPG allowed (70.4). The Broncos defense is giving up an opponent shooting percentage of 43.8% (406 of 928) and they relinquish 30.9 boards per game as a team. They are ranked 334th in Division 1 in allowing assists to the opposition with 253 relinquished this year.

When they last stepped on the court, the Gonzaga Bulldogs took home the win by a final score of 82-47 when they faced Loyola Marymount. The Bulldogs were able to collect 29 defensive boards and 10 offensive boards totaling 39 in the game. They coughed up the ball 8 times, while recording 9 steals for the game. Loyola Marymount had 9 personal fouls in the game which took the Bulldogs to the charity stripe for 10 attempts. They were able to convert 4 of the free throws for a rate of 40.0%. In reference to shots from beyond the arc, Gonzaga knocked down 6 of 20 tries (30.0%). In all, the Bulldogs ended up shooting 36 out of 67 from the floor which had them at 53.7%. The Bulldogs permitted Loyola Marymount to bury 19 of 63 attempts from the floor which gave them a shooting percentage of 30.2% in this contest. They went 26.1% from beyond the arc by connecting on 6 out of 23 and finished the game at 3 out of 7 at the free throw line (42.9%). In the matter of cleaning the glass, Gonzaga permitted Loyola Marymount to get 28 in all (8 on the offensive side).

Graham Ike ended up having an impact for the Bulldogs for the game. He made 7 of 12 in the matchup for a field goal percentage of 58.3%, and tallied 7 rebounds. He earned 16 points in his 29 mins on the court and had 3 dimes in the matchup.

Gonzaga has a win-loss mark of 16-1 on the season. As an offensive team, the Bulldogs are shooting 52.4% from the field, which ranks them 8th in the country. Gonzaga has accumulated 1,557 pts for the campaign (91.6 per game) and they average 43.4 boards per contest. Their rate of assisting teammates is at 20.1 times per contest (7th in college hoops) and they are giving up possession 10.4 times per game. The Bulldogs have committed 18.1 fouls per game and they hit 69.9% from the charity stripe.

The Bulldogs defensively are ranked 54th in college hoops in points per game surrendered with 67.4. They are forcing 14.7 turnovers on a nightly basis and have allowed teams to shoot 38.8% from the floor (22nd in D-1). The Gonzaga defense surrenders 29.0% from downtown (132 of 455) and their opponents are knocking down 67.8% of their foul shots. They give up 12.5 dimes and 32.2 rebounds every game, which has them ranked 115th and 72nd in D-1.

Who will win tonight's NCAA game against the spread?

Tony Sink's Pick: Take Santa Clara

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