Gonzaga Bulldogs vs Houston Cougars Prediction, 3/22/2025 College Basketball Picks, Best Bets & Odds

Game: Gonzaga Bulldogs vs Houston Cougars

Date: Saturday, March 22, 2025

Location: INTRUST Bank Arena in Wichita, KS

TV: TNT

Odds/Point Spread: Houston (-4)

The Houston Cougars (31-4) are welcoming the Gonzaga Bulldogs (26-8) at INTRUST Bank Arena on Saturday in the 2nd round of the NCAA Tournament. Houston opens this game as 4-point favorites from Vegas oddsmakers. The total is 140.

The Gonzaga Bulldogs faced off with Georgia and earned the victory with a final of 89-68 in their last game. Gonzaga wrapped up the contest having earned a 55.0% field goal percentage (33 out of 60) and knocked down 12 out of their 20 shots from 3-point land. From the free throw line, the Bulldogs buried 11 of their 15 shots for a percentage of 73.3%. Regarding pulling down rebounds, they collected 35 with 10 of them being offensive. They also dished out 23 assists in the matchup in addition to creating 13 turnovers and having 5 steals. In regard to defense, Gonzaga allowed the other team to go 35.0% from the floor on 21 of 60 shooting. Georgia doled out 12 assists and had 9 steals in this matchup. Additionally, Georgia collected 26 rebounds (9 offensive, 17 defensive), but didn't notch a block. Georgia finished shooting 72.4% from the free throw line by burying 21 of 29 attempts. They also converted 5 out of their 26 shots from 3-point range. With respect to fouls, the Bulldogs ended up with 23 and Georgia racked up 13 fouls.

Khalif Battle is someone who had an impact in this game. He accounted for 24 points on 9 of 13 shooting. He was on the court for 30 mins played and grabbed 8 boards. He shot 69.2% from the floor and earned 2 dimes.

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Gonzaga will play this game with a win-loss mark of 26-8 for the season. They currently have an average of 86.7 points per game (2nd in college) while shooting 50.1% from the floor. The Bulldogs are hitting 35.1% on shots from beyond the arc (254 of 723) and 79.9% from the free throw line. As a unit, Gonzaga is collecting 38.6 rebounds per game and has accounted for 672 assists for the year, which has them ranked 1st in the nation in terms of passing the ball. They are losing possession via turnover 9.5 times per contest and as a squad they are committing 16.9 personal fouls per game.

On the defensive end, the Bulldogs have forced 13.0 turnovers per game and they draw 17.7 personal fouls. They are ranked 117th in D-1 in allowing assists to the opposition with 410 surrendered for the season. The Bulldogs are giving up and opponent field goal percentage of 41.2% (842 of 2,043) and they concede 32.8 rebounds per game as a group. They are surrendering 29.8% from 3-point land and they are ranked 98th in the nation in PPG allowed (69.6).

When they last stepped on the court, the Houston Cougars got the victory with a final of 78-40 against SIU Edwardsville. With respect to how they cleaned up the glass, Houston permitted SIU Edwardsville to grab 22 overall (4 on the offensive side). They shot 8.3% from downtown by going 2 of 24 and walked away from this one shooting 8 of 17 from the free throw line (47.1%). The Cougars allowed SIU Edwardsville to convert 15 of 49 tries from the field which gave them a shooting percentage of 30.6% in the matchup. When this game wrapped up, the Cougars went 27 out of 66 from the field which gave them a shooting percentage of 40.9%. In the matter of shooting from distance, Houston converted 10 out of their 28 attempts (35.7%). They were able to convert 14 of those for a clip of 73.7%. SIU Edwardsville was called for 16 fouls for the matchup which took the Cougars to the charity stripe for a total of 19 tries. They gave up possession of the ball 6 times, while recording 11 steals for the game. The Cougars were able to snag 30 defensive rebounds and 14 offensive rebounds for a total of 44 in this game.

Milos Uzan ended up being a major contributor for the Cougars for this contest. He had 16 points in his 23 minutes on the hardwood and had 3 dimes in this game. He buried 6 of 7 for this contest giving him a rate of 85.7%, and accumulated 3 rebounds.

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Houston has a win-loss mark of 31-4 for the year. As an offensive team, the Cougars are shooting 45.7% from the floor, which is ranked 120th in Division 1. Houston has totaled 2,601 points on the season (74.3 per game) and they grab 36.6 rebounds per game. They are assisting teammates 11.9 times per contest (295th in the country) and they are losing possession via turnover 9.2 times per game. The Cougars commit 16.3 fouls per game and they hit 74.1% from the free throw line.

The Cougars on defense are ranked 1st in D-1 in points given up per game with 57.9. They are forcing their opponents into 13.8 TO's every game and allow teams to shoot 38.1% from the floor (2nd in D-1). The Houston defense gives up 30.2% on shots from beyond the perimeter (234 of 775) and their opponents are connecting on 70.3% of their shots from the free throw line. They give up 10.8 assists and 31.5 boards per contest, which has them ranked 27th and 25th in the country.

So what is Tonights Parlay prediction?

Parlay's Pundit's Pick: Take Houston (-4)

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