Henry Roldán
Next Thursday Arkansas and Gonzaga will be the teams in charge of opening the curtain on the Sweet 16 of March Madness 2022 when they meet at the Chase Center, home of the Golden State Warriors. The Razorbacks are coming off a spectacular defensive night in the second round by defeating New Mexico State, 53-48. For their part, the Bulldogs, favorites to take the national championship, came close to losing all their aspirations after winning, rallying from a 10-point deficit, by slate of 82-78 to Memphis.
Picks and Predictions for the Arkansas Razorbacks vs Gonzaga Bulldogs NCAA Basketball Championship Sweet 16 Game on March 24
- Where: Chase Center – San Francisco, California
- When: Thursday, March 24, 7:09 PM ET
- Betting Line: Arkansas Razorbacks (+8.5) vs Gonzaga Bulldogs (-8.5)
Arkansas Razorbacks Betting Preview
- Overall Record: 25-8
- Conference Record: 13-6-1
- Spread: +8.5
- Over/Under: Over 154.5
- Moneyline: +320
If the Razorbacks want to keep believing and give a historic bell on Thursday, their offense has to improve and a lot. While their defense will surely keep the game on the line against Gonzaga’s powerful offense, the multiple shortcomings of Arkansas’ offense may be their downfall in the tournament.
Against New Mexico State, the Razorbacks responded as the nation’s leaders in their ability to score free throws left and right by going 22 of 25. The problem comes when they want to shoot from three points, as they hit just three of 16, and on field goals they barely averaged 28%. Yes, free throws are important, but if you want to keep the game close, as Memphis did in the second round, you need to get the three-pointers and improve the field goals. With points from the line, against a team that does not get much into foul trouble, they will not get very far in the match.
For this commitment the figure to follow is J.D. Notae, who has been the best scorer of Arkansas in the first two rounds by scoring 17 points in the first game and 18 in the second. Notae was also the Razorbacks’ best player in the regular round with 18.4 points per game, but he only threw 30% from long distance, something he urgently needs to improve if he wants to help his team move to the Elite Eight.
Gonzaga Bulldogs Betting Preview
- Overall Record: 26-3
- Conference Record: 13-1
- Spread: -8.5
- Over/Under: Over 154.5
- Moneyline: -400
Gonzaga probably won’t have much trouble defending Arkansas as they’re nowhere near Memphis’ great performance from the three-point line. However, they are not much better than the Tigers defensively, something the Bulldogs suffered a lot in the first half.
While Gonzaga doesn’t lose the ball as much to the pressure of opponents, the Razorbacks are coming off just 48 points in the second round, in the regular season they kept seven league opponents below 60 points and rival teams averaged just 40.9 percent of shots overall and 32.2 percent from behind the arc. Precisely the Bulldogs must improve from long distance where they threw for 33% in the second round and from the free throw line, their main shortcoming and from where they scored just 13 of 24 against Memphis.
For this commitment, and for what May Be Left for Gonzaga at March Madness, the undisputed figure is Drew Timme. The Bulldogs forward became the third player in the last 30 years of March Madness to record back-to-back games of at least 25 points, 10 rebounds and 60% on field goals. The other two were Shaquille O’Neal (1992) and Blake Griffin (2009). Timme scored 21 of his 25 points in the second half against the Tigers, being the mainstay of Gonzaga’s offense and the man to fear for Arkansas for their dominance under the board.
JefeBet Prediction
Arkansas has had a great defensive performance in the big dance and this has been shown to be super important to be able to fight the favorites. However, his offensive problems look a bit worrying and he needs this to be able to play one of the most feared attacks in the nation. Memphis was able to fight Gonzaga at the point of triples, but the Razorbacks are just averaging 30% from long distance in their last six games. That’s why this time I think Gonzaga is going to continue his way to the Final Four and I’m going with the Bulldogs moneyline.
