Marriott Center – Provo, UT
Tip-off: Thursday, 11:00p.m. ET
Line: BYU +8.5

Newly minted #1 in the nation, Gonzaga takes its undefeated record into the hostile Marriott Center to square off with BYU on Thursday night.

Number one in the nation for the first time in school history, Gonzaga hits the road Thursday night facing off against conference rival BYU. The Cougars have given the Bulldogs some trouble since joining them in the WCC and, at the very least, have a high degree of familiarity with Gonzaga having played Coach Mark Few’s club nine times over the past three seasons (3-6, 3-5-1 ATS). BYU (9-11 ATS) is 7-3 in conference play this season (4-6 ATS). In the friendly confines of the Marriot Center, Coach Dave Rose’s Cougars are 12-1 (6-4 ATS), but find themselves home underdogs for the first time this season. BYU is 0-3 (0-3) when not favored. BYU is 0-4 in their history when facing No. 1 ranked opponents. The Cougars split a week where they lost on the road at Santa Clara while rebounded to win at home over Loyola Marymount on Saturday. Unfortunately, they face the specter of possibly playing without starting G Nick Emery (13.9 PPG, 1.9 SPG) who is questionable for tonight’s game (illness). Gonzaga comes into tonight’s game looking to break the school record for consecutive victories. To put in perspective how dominant Gonzaga’s season thus far has been: Not only do they lead the nation in margin of victory (23.8 PPG), including 15 wins by 20 or more points (and eight of those wins by 30+ points), only three of their games have had margins of single-digits. Gonzaga’s last three road wins have been by 31, 19, and 45 points respectively, and they haven’t trailed in their last 244+ minutes of basketball. The Bulldogs have been no worse than 22 point favorites in each of their last four games, as this will only be the sixth time all season that Gonzaga is less than a 10-point favorite (4-1 ATS). Overall, Gonzaga is 15-4 ATS this season (4-1 ATS on the road). Coach Few’s club has also been able to pull out wins in each of the last two times his Bulldogs have played in Provo, winning last February (as three-point underdogs) and in Dec. 2014.

Bluntly speaking, Gonzaga hasn’t been tested in two months. Their last win in single digits was Dec. 3 over Arizona and their closest conference game was a 15-point win at San Francisco on Jan. 5. BYU has traditionally given Gonzaga all they can handle, and the 8.5-point spread shows that this should be a competitive game (by Gonzaga’s standards). That said, it’s hard to go against an outfit as consistent as the Bulldogs on both ends of the floor. Ninth in the nation in both scoring offense and defense (85.2 PPG; 61.4 PPG allowed) despite losing their two best players from last year. Experienced transfers have meshed with seasoned veterans and a promising freshman to yield a team that statistically has almost no weaknesses. The Bulldogs own the No. 2 ranked FG% defense in the country (36.9% FG) and don’t turn the ball over or send their opponents to the free throw line. Gonzaga is a solid rebounding team (40.1 RPG, 17th in NCAA) but should be wary of BYU’s elite rebounding capability (the Cougars are third in the nation on the glass). Leading Gonzaga is the reigning WCC player of the week, G Nigel Williams-Goss (14.8 PPG, 4.9 APG, 1.6 SPG). The transfer from Washington leads Gonzaga in points and assists and shot 17-for-24 FG last week while doling out 11 assists against just one turnover. 7’1” Senior C Przemek Karnowski (12.5 PPG, 5.4 RPG, 61% FG) is having a great bounce-back year from injury and will be tasked with keeping a body on the WCC’s leading rebounder, Eric Mika for BYU. Karnowski will be aided in the paint by fabulous freshman Zach Collins (10.8 PPG, 5.7 RPG, 1.4 BPG in 17 minutes). Collins went a cool 10-for-10 FG last week over his two contests. Look for him to get more opportunities in one of the first games where Gonzaga may truly need to take the shackles off this future star.

All eyes in Provo will be on G Nick Emery, who fell sick on Wednesday night. If Emery can’t give it a go, more responsibility will fall upon backcourt mates T.J Haws (13.7 PPG) and L.J Rose (5.6 PPG, 4.8 APG). Emery is BYU’s second leading scorer, trailing F Eric Mika (20.8 PPG, 9.6 RPG). Mika is the WCC’s leader in scoring, rebounding and blocks per game and has had an incredible season after serving an LDS mission for the past two years. Mika will have the tall task of going up against Gonzaga on the interior, but won’t have to go at it alone, with freshman F Yoeli Childs (8.5 PPG, 8.3 RPG, 1.6 BPG) helping him. Childs has been invaluable to Coach Rose since losing F Kyle Davis for the season in December. At 82.6 PPG (19th in NCAA), BYU’s offense is capable of keeping up with Gonzaga if the game becomes a track meet, but unfortunately BYU’s 175th ranked defense will most likely be where Gonzaga breaks the game open. BYU’s pace of play attributes to their sub-par scoring defense, however, as if the Cougars decide to slow the game down, they can rely on their 18th ranked defensive efficiency (0.971 points per possession).