West Virginia vs #3 Gonzaga Odds & Expert Analysis in Week 4 – NCAAB 2024 Battle 4 Atlantis

The Battle 4 Atlantis holiday college basketball tournament tips off in the Bahamas on Wednesday and the betting favorite to win it is No. 3 Gonzaga.

The Zags open play with a matinee against unranked West Virginia of the Big 12 with Gonzaga as a double-digit favorite on the NCAAB odds in Week 4

West Virginia Mountaineers NCAAB Line +801

West Virginia is under first-year coach Darian DeVries, formerly of Drake. He had emerged as one of the country’s top mid-major coaches in recent years, leading Drake to the NCAA tournament in three of the past four seasons. He won at least 25 games in each of the last four seasons there and had a record of 150-55 over six campaigns at Drake.

Darian DeVries

DeVries took the vacancy created when Bob Huggins left WVU amid a hailstorm of controversy in the wake of his DUI arrest in June. The school placed assistant coach Josh Eilert in charge for the 2023-24 season before reopening the search for Huggins’ full-time replacement. Prior to Drake, DeVries was an assistant coach at Creighton for 17 years under Greg McDermott and Dana Altman.

Tucker DeVries

DeVries brought along his son Tucker to West Virginia. Last season, Tucker became the ninth-ever player and first since Doug McDermott to win the Larry Bird MVC Player of the Year trophy in back-to-back seasons while playing at Drake. He was also named an Associated Press All-America Honorable Mention selection. WVU has a wealth of experience on its roster who have college basketball experience. Entering this season, they combined to play 806 games, made 442 starts, scored 7,606 points, grabbed 3,304 rebounds and dished out 1,248 assists.

Javon Small

WVU (3-1) comes off an 86-43 blowout win over Iona on Nov. 20. Small led the way with 23 points as Small made half of his 14 field goal attempts, including 5 of 9 from 3-point distance, grabbed five rebounds and handed out five assists. WVU also got 13 points from Tucker DeVries, 11 from freshman Jonathan Powell (during a four-minute span in the first half), and 10 points and nine rebounds from Amani Hansberry. The Mountaineers connected on 15 of their 31 3-point attempts and was 29 of 56 overall from the floor for 51.8%. WVU’s biggest lead was 44 points with 48 seconds remaining.

Iona turned the ball over 21 times leading to 26 West Virginia points and the Mountaineers also outscored the Gaels 24 to 10 in the paint. WVU was credited with 11 blocked shots, four coming from backup forward Eduardo Andre, and 11 steals, four credited to Small. Iona scored on just 19 of its 70 possessions.

“I thought defensively we did some really good stuff,” Darian DeVries said afterward. “I thought we were really connected and tried to make things as challenging as possible to keep them from getting to the rim. They try and spread you out trying to get as many paint touches as they can so defensively, overall, it was a really good start-to-finish effort for us.”

Mid Season Tournaments

The Mountaineers were slated to play in the 2020 Battle 4 Atlantis, but COVID-19 forced the tournament to be moved to Sioux Falls, South Dakota, where WVU won that tournament, which was renamed Bad Boys Mowers Crossover Classic.

“I love (midseason tournaments),” Darian DeVries said. “It’s an opportunity, in this particular case, to play in a tournament setting, and we can see how they respond to playing three games in three days, which is similar to post-conference tournaments. You can get an idea of, ‘At some point guys, this is what it’s going to be in March of you are going to have to play one night, a second night and a third night.’ It kind of gives you an early glimpse at some of those things.”

Island life 🏝️ pic.twitter.com/ESneWs9fDv

— WVU Men's Basketball (@WVUhoops) November 27, 2024

Darian DeVries teams are 110-21 when holding opponents to 69 points or less and 52-6 when holding opponents to 59 points or less. The Mountaineers have won 147 of their last 165 games when holding opponents to 69 points or less.

This is WVU’s fourth trip outside the United States and Puerto Rico to play a regular season game. WVU played in Cancun in 2013 and 2019, and opened the season in Germany in the 2017 Armed Forces Classic. WVU is 44-16 in in-season tournaments since 2007. West Virginia has played 206 ranked teams since the start of the 2004-05 season, winning 75 of those games.

Gonzaga Bulldogs NCAAB Line -1667

Gonzaga (5-0) has won all five games by double figures and is off an 84-41 blowout win over Long Beach State on Nov. 20. Up 9-4 after the first five minutes, Gonzaga took over with a 14-0 run to open up a cushion, and led by as many as 24 in the first half. It was really over then. Long Beach State just 31.5% overall and 10% from deep.

Graham Ike

Ike and Khalif Battle each had 15 points, while Ryan Nembhard added 10 points and seven assists for the Bulldogs (5-0), who have opened with five straight wins for the first time since the 2021-22 season. Gonzaga’s bench provided 32 points, including 12 from Braden Huff and 10 from Dusty Stromer. Huff has scored in double figures in every outing this season.

The Zags have not trailed since the 7:21 mark of the second half against Arizona State, 69-67, on Nov. 10. GU has not trailed in the last 126 minutes and 27 seconds of game action. While Gonzaga has scored 80 points in every game, it has shot better than 40% from beyond the arc just twice and under 35% from 3-point territory in the other three games.

Ryan Nembhard

Nembhard’s 47 assists are tied with Purdue‘s Braden Smith for most in the nation through five games. Nembhard’s 9.4 assists per game are third in the nation. The senior has six turnovers. His 7.83 assist-to-turnover ratio is 10th in the country. The Bulldogs are only turning the ball over eight times per game, which ranks second in the country. After having 11 turnovers in the season-opening win over Baylor, GU has been in single-digit turnovers in each of the last four games.

The Turnovers

Gonzaga had four turnovers in the win over Long Beach State, the second fewest by the Zags in the past six seasons. The Bulldogs are second in the nation with a 11.2 turnover percentage. Toledo is first at 10.8 percent. Gonzaga has five scorers who average in double figures, including Ike (14.6 ppg), Battle (14.4) and Huff (14.0).

The Gonzaga-West Virginia winner will meet the Indiana–Louisville winner on Thursday. Gonzaga is 46-13 under Mark Few in events during the week of Thanksgiving, and 35-7 in the last 10 Thanksgiving week events. Under Few, GU has won seven tournaments during the week of Thanksgiving, and played in 11 of the 17 tournament championship games. Last season at the Maui Invitational, the Bulldogs fell to eventual champion Purdue in the quarterfinals, before picking up wins over Syracuse and UCLA.

feelin' good 🌴🏖️ pic.twitter.com/2QIf8bh0jU

— Gonzaga Basketball (@ZagMBB) November 26, 2024

Here is what Few expects from West Virginia: “Pressure defense, very athletic and handsy and good rim protection, and then very opportunistic on the offensive end. They got a great offensive player in DeVries, but they got some really nice shooters, so, kind of all the above.”

How to Bet West Virginia vs. Gonzaga Odds NCAA Basketball

When: Wednesday, 2:30 PM ET
Where: Imperial Arena, Nassau, Bahamas
TV: ESPN
Stream: ESPN+

West Virginia vs. Gonzaga Series History

West Virginia and Gonzaga will meet for the sixth time in all-time series play that began in 2012. Gonzaga leads 5-0. The schools last met on Dec. 2, 2020, in the Jimmy V Classic held in Indianapolis during COVID with the No. 1-ranked Bulldogs downing No. 11-ranked WVU, 87-82. West Virginia is 5-8 all-time against current members of the West Coast Conference.

Which #Battle4Atlantis Round 1 match-up are you most hype for & who do you predict will win the tourney?

Game 1 @LouisvilleMBB x @IndianaMBB
Game 2 @WVUHoops x @ZagMBB
Game 3 @OU_MBBall x @PCFriarsMBB
Game 4 @DavidsonMBB x @ArizonaMBB#CollegeBasketball #ESPN #AtlantisBahamas pic.twitter.com/fAWwxXj5fU

— Battle 4 Atlantis (@B4AOfficial) November 21, 2024

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