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The West Coast Conference tips off again on Thursday night with a matchup between the Gonzaga Bulldogs (11-5, 2-1 WCC) and the Pepperdine Waves (9-10, 2-2 WCC). Gonzaga just dropped a road game in Santa Clara 77-76, losing outright as 7.5-point favorites. Pepperdine just picked up a road victory over San Diego 83-77, covering the spread as 1.5-point favorites. These teams met two weeks ago, with Gonzaga winning 86-60 and covering a 20.5-point spread at home. Tipoff is scheduled for 9:00 EST from Firestone Fieldhouse in Malibu, California.
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The Gonzaga Bulldogs started the season ranked 11th in the country, and got to as high as 7th before suffering some losses and ultimately falling out of the polls. There is nothing wrong with losing to #2 Purdue, or #5 UConn, but they lost to programs they typically beat in Washington, San Diego State, and Santa Clara. The loss to Santa Clara hurt the most, as it was a conference loss and Saint Mary's has already gotten off to a 4-0 start in WCC play. In the Santa Clara game, Gonzaga was led by forward Anton Watson with 32 points in the loss.
Three players played all forty minutes against Santa Clara, which brings Gonzaga's depth and trust in their bench in question. Anton Watson is their leading scorer as a 6'8 senior, he averages 14.9 PPG and 7.4 RPG. The 32 point game against Santa Clara matched his season high. Graham Ike is another 6'9 forward with size, the junior weight s 240 pounds and averages 14.6 PPG and a team high 7.7 RPG. Ike was quiet against Santa Clara with just three points, but scored 19 or more in his previous four games. Ryan Nembhard is a 6'0 junior guard who transferred in to play point guard, he leads the team in assists with 5.9 per game and scores 13.0 PPG. Nolan Hickman is their top shooter on the team, the 6'2 junior has 28 made threes on 36.8% shooting while adding 12.1 PPG. Braden Huff is another scorer, the 6'10 freshman is averaging 10.7 PPG.
Gonzaga is currently ranked 25th overall according to KenPom. They rank 29th in offensive efficiency and 41st in defensive efficiency. The Bulldogs play fast on offense, they rank 59th in the country out of 362 teams in their pace of play.
Injury Report:
Out: G Luka Krajnovic (3.3 PPG)