Top-ranked Gonzaga continues their tournament tour on Wednesday night as they face the #11 West Virginia Mountaineers on Wednesday night. Gonzaga took down Kansas and Auburn in decisive fashion in Florida. West Virginia won the Bad Boy Mowers Crossover Classic, taking down South Dakota State, VCU and Western Kentucky over the long weekend, winning three games in three days. Gonzaga was originally supposed to play Tennessee in Indianapolis, but COVID-19 had its way with the Volunteers, and the Bulldogs will play West Virginia instead.
Check out our college basketball betting preview of this battle of intriguing college hoops teams.
NCAAB: Gonzaga vs West Virginia (Wednesday, December 2)
When: Wednesday, December 2, 2020, 7:00 pm ET
Where: Bankers Life Fieldhouse, Indianapolis
TV: ESPN
Radio: Learfield IMG Gonzaga Sports Properties / Mountaineer Sports Network
Live Stream: Hulu
NCAAB Odds: XXXX
Why should you bet on the Bulldogs?
West Virginia’s defense is known as “Press Virginia” because of coach Bob Huggins’ frequent use of a fullcourt press to disrupt the opposition. It will be interesting to see how he deals with the Gonzaga offense, which occasionally looked unstoppable against Kansas and just drove Auburn out of the gym. If Huggins wants to run the game at high speed, this could turn into a blowout.
Gonzaga can respond by adding Andrew Nembhard to the lineup, to add a ball handler to the Bulldog presence. If Drew Timme can get some space inside, he should be able to put up points, if the Mountaineers have to devote extra defensive resources to Jalen Suggs and Corey Kispert. There is also the fact that West Virginia’s level of competition has not been comparable to that of Gonzaga to this point. Gonzaga has already knocked off a top-ten team in Kansas, while West Virginia has started 2020-21 with some mid-major competition that will not come close to what Gonzaga will bring.
Why should you put your money on the Mountaineers?
West Virginia had the third-best defense in the nation in 2019-20, according to KenPom, and they didn’t lose much talent in the off-season. Their leading scorer is Miles “Deuce” McBride, a sophomore guard who puts up 16.3 points per game. He can attack the basket, shoot from distance and break up offenses using perimeter defense. He will have the task of stopping the talented Bulldog freshman Jalen Suggs. Inside, West Virginia has Derek Culver at center, putting up 15 points, 10 boards and two blocks per game. Oscar Tshiebwe and Gabe Osabouhien have combined with Culver to grab ten offensive boards per game. In 2019-20, no one got more offensive boards per game than West Virginia, and they are currently ninth.
On offense, West Virginia doesn’t fill up the bucket, particularly in the frontcourt. They prosper when they can get 10-15 extra shots per game due to offensive boards. If they can control the glass against Gonzaga, this game will get a lot more interesting. The matchup of McBride on Suggs will cause Suggs some difficulty in the early going. He and Corey Kispert will need to be able to knock down their shots from distance.
Final Score and Prediction
Bob Huggins’ defense is fun to watch. He teaches non-stop hustle and pressure, and his guards feed off that style of play. That hustle extends to the frontcourt, as he knows the value of offensive rebounds, not just in adding extra shots but in draining the opposition of morale. The problem here for West Virginia is that Gonzaga’s offense is just too fast, and just too good, for his team to hold it in check. West Virginia’s team is built for defense first, but when you run into a team as solid as Gonzaga and don’t have answers on the offensive end, you’re not going to win. I predict a final score of Gonzaga 77, West Virginia 66.
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