Gonzaga (6-0) @ Washington State (6-2) - December 10th, 2008

By WagerWeb.com Contributing Writer

Sports Betting at WagerWeb Online Sportsbook

It’s not a great night for college basketball action Wednesday, with only a handful of ranked teams in action, with the highest being No. 4 Gonzaga taking on in-state rival Washington State for the 144th time overall.

The Zags are 4.5-point road favorites on WagerWeb.com.

This game pits a veteran Gonzaga team against a young Wazzu club. The Cougars are 0-2 against Top 25 teams this year and 6-0 against everyone else, and you can tell they go as their freshmen go. The first-year players have scored just 18 of WSU’s 95 points (20 percent) against the two ranked teams, compared with 143 of 397 points (35 percent) in the six wins. The team is shooting only .437 on the season.

True freshman shooting guard Klay Thompson leads the Cougars in scoring, field-goal attempts and 3-point field-goal attempts. But his team-leading scoring average is just 11.6 ppg, and he has struggled in the two losses to ranked teams. Thompson has gone scoreless in one half of each of the past three games. That includes the losses to Pittsburgh (currently ranked No. 3) and Baylor (No. 22), when he totaled 11 points on 5-of-17 shooting. The Cougars have been playing five freshmen per game.

As usual, Washington State relies on defense, leading the nation in scoring defense (45.3) and field goal percentage defense (31.7). That defense will have a challenge in the deep Zags, led by senior forward Josh Heytvelt, who is averaging team highs of 15.3 points and 6.5 rebounds. Heytvelt has scored 18.0 points on 71.4 percent shooting from the field in his last three contests.



Coach Mark Few expects the Cougars will try to keep the score in the 50s to slow down the Zags, who average 80 points per game.

Gonzaga’s defense has been just as good, allowing only .344 field-goal shooting. The four BCS-conference teams the Zags have conquered have combined to shoot .355.

Wazzu has beaten Gonzaga two years in a row but has lost 34 straight games to top five opponents and is 1-72 all-time against top-five teams. The Zags are ranked the highest they have been since 2004.

Bet on Gonzaga @ Washington State