San Francisco vs. Gonzaga college basketball odds: Top-ranked Zags' 61-game home win streak could be in jeopardy on CBS Sports Network
The college basketball game of the night Thursday is San Francisco at Gonzaga.
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College basketball bettors on the East Coast need to stay up late Thursday as three Top 10 schools will be in action with 11 p.m. ET tip-offs: No. 3 Arizona at Stanford and No. 9 UCLA at Utah from the Pac-12, as well as No. 1 Gonzaga putting its national-best 61-game home winning streak on the line against a very dangerous San Francisco team. The Zags are 16-point favorites at Caesars Sportsbook for the CBS Sports Network game. We aren't predicting the upset, but the Dons might be capable of doing it.
San Francisco hasn't made the NCAA Tournament since the 1997-98 season and the Dons probably aren't winning the West Coast Conference Tournament over Gonzaga to get the automatic bid to the 2022 Big Dance. USF ranks 35th in the latest NCAA NET rankings and an upset tonight would vault it into the Top 25 and seemingly assure an at-large NCAA bid as long as the team doesn't fall apart before Selection Sunday.
The Dons (15-3) are led by fifth-year senior guard Jamaree Bouyea. He leads the WCC in made field goals (121), total minutes (631) and total points (322) while ranking third in scoring (17.9 ppg). USF leads the conference in making 9.7 three-pointers per game. It owns quality wins this season over Davidson, Towson, UAB and Fresno State. San Francisco's losses to Grand Canyon, Loyola Chicago and BYU – all likely NCAA Tournament teams -- were by a combined eight points.
Gonzaga (14-2) returned to the top spot in the polls on Monday, is No. 1 in the NET rankings and leads the nation in scoring offense (90.9), scoring margin (24.5) and field goal percentage (53.9). The Zags have scored at least 100 points four times this season, including each of the past three in which they are averaging 114.0 ppg. Gonzaga is the first AP Top 5 team to score 110 points in three straight games since UNLV did it in the 1990-91 season.
Senior forward Drew Timme is averaging 18.6 points on 65.5 percent shooting and freshman sensation Chet Holmgren, a potential No. 1 overall pick in the 2022 NBA Draft, is averaging 13.1 points (73.2 percent shooting from two-point range), 8.5 rebounds and 3.4 blocks. The Zags are +650 national title favorites at Caesars.
Coach Mark Few's team has won a national-best 61 straight home games as noted as well as 24 conference games in a row (also tops in the country) and 21 straight vs. San Francisco. These schools weren't originally scheduled to play tonight but did some COVID reshuffling. The Zags visit USF on Feb. 24.
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