Portland @ Gonzaga Preview

By Mike Wynn Sports

A big Thursday night match up in the WCC Tuesday night when Portland travels to Gonzaga in a key match up. Portland a better team this season then we’ve seen in the past as they sit with 14-7 overall record and a 5-2 mark in conference play. The Pilots are just 1 game back in the conference standings and they’ll be trying to avenge a 3 point home loss to Gonzaga back in January but it won’t be easy as they’re going to catch Gonzaga in a foul mood coming off the loss to San Francisco on Saturday. Bulldogs dropped their first conference game of the season in overtime at San Francisco and are now tied with St Marys at 6-1 atop the WCC standings. Gonzaga still ranked 13th with a 17-4 overall record and they’ll be a lock for an NCAA tournament bid come March. So let’s take a look at both teams here starting with the visiting Portland Pilot.

Portland one of the surprise teams this season in college basketball. Portland has wins over Minnesota, UCLA, and Oregon on their resume already this season they gave this Gonzaga squad all they wanted in the first meeting this year. Portland is led by 6-4 senior guard Nik Raivio and his 14.1 points per game. Raivio also averages 6.1 rebounds per game and the Raivio name is no stranger to Gonzaga fans who had his older brother Derek from 2003-2007. Pilots are a deep veteran squad with 7 guys averaging over 19 minutes per game and all 7 players are upper classmen. Campbell and Stohl are the other guards for Portland and they’re the outside threats knocking down a combined 46.1% of their 3 point shots and they’ve put up 230 between them this year. 6-10 forward Robin Smeulders is the main man in the middle averaging 13.1 points per game and 6.5 boards. Luke Sikma, son of NBA star Jack Sikma, is a chip off the old block hitting the boards and averaging 8 rebounds per game. Portland will probably have to win the WCC tournament to get in the NCAA, but if they don’t they should be a lock for the NIT.
Gonzaga was ranked 8th in the country heading into last weeks action but they had a rough week. Bulldogs were down double digits in the second half before pulling out the win at Santa Clara, but they weren’t as fortunate at San Francisco as they ran into a hot outside shooting squad and lost in overtime. Make no mistake Gonzaga is still a solid club and they’ll be dancing come March. Bulldogs are led by 6-5 senior guard Matt Bouldin who leads the team in scoring, assists and steals and he’s the glue for the Bulldogs. The future however is Elias Harris a 6-7 freshmen whose averaging 16.3 points per game this season and he plays with a maturity beyond his years. Bulldogs boast a 7 footer in the middle in Robert Sacre who chips in 10.2 points and a team leading 5.2 boards per contest. Mark Few has created a bit of a dynasty at Gonzaga and this team looks like they could make another run in the NCAA tournament this season.
Looking at the trends and angles here we find that Gonzaga has absolutely dominated this series and the wins have been by double digits until the 3 point game at Portland earlier this year. With Portland’s veteran squad I don’t think this team will get rattled easily on the road but they have to deal with a Gonzaga squad off their first conference loss of the season, which will make them extra tough. Expect Gonzaga to be favored by around 6 to 7 points or so for this game and I’d be reluctant to lay it. Gonzaga has dropped 4 straight against the spread while Portland has been money with a 5-0-1 ATS record their last 6. But with that said I won’t buck Gonzaga at home off a loss either and I’m going to look at playing the over in this one. These two have scored 158 and 171 points in the last two meetings and Gonzaga is a dynamite 8-1 over team at home this season and a solid 10-2 over in the favorite role. This game is worth a watch and worth a small play on the over Thursday night.