Georgia vs Gonzaga Predictions, Props & Picks for March Madness (March 19)

• The Gonzaga Bulldogs are heavy favorites over the Georgia Bulldogs in the first round of March Madness
• Gonzaga is 9-1 SU in its last ten, while UGA is just 5-5
• See the Georgia vs Gonzaga predictions, picks, and betting lines for March 20

Two Bulldogs clash on Thursday when #9 Georgia (20-12, 17-15 ATS) meets #8 Gonzaga (25-8, 14-19 ATS) in the first round of the 2025 NCAA Tournament in Wichita, KS, at 4:30 pm ET. Though Georgia held its own playing a much tougher SEC schedule, it’s the WCC Tournament-champion Zags who are heavy favorites, laying 6.5 points in Thursday’s college basketball odds. The Zags are also -290 moneyline favorites with Georgia a +220 underdog. The game total is 150.5 (O -110/U -110).

Georgia vs Gonzaga Prediction

• Georgia +6.5 (-105) at BetMGM

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I really like this Gonzaga team – so much so that I picked them to make a run all the way to the Final Four in my expert March Madness bracket. They have top-end talent in the frontcourt (Graham Ike: 17.1 PPG, 7.5 RPG) and backcourt (Ryan Nembhard: 10.8 PPG, 3.1 RPG, 9.8 APG) plus plenty of skills and veteran leadership up and down the roster.

They started to play up to their potential later in the season, which culminated with a 58-51 win over Saint Mary’s in the WCC Tournament final, avenging a pair of regular-season losses to the Gaels.

That game was massive for the Zags for a couple reasons. It showed they can still beat top-5o teams (they’d lost five straight prior) and it proved they can win even if Ike has an off night. The senior had just 11 points and five rebounds. Sophomore forward Braden Huff picked up the slack, scoring 18 with four boards and two dimes.

But this is a big number to cover against a Georgia team that has a high ceiling and has been duking it out in the best conference in the country all season. There is nothing and no one Gonzaga can throw at Georgia that UGA hasn’t already seen.

I say Georgia has a high ceiling due to regular-season wins over Florida (88-83 home), Kentucky (82-69 home), and St John’s (66-63 neutral), who are all rated 16th or higher at KenPom.

Gonzaga is heavily favored, of course, exactly because analytics sites like KenPom and Haslametrics indicate they’re about six points better than Georgia over 40 minutes. KenPom predicts a 78-72 final in favor of the Zags, while Haslametrics, which uses decimals in its projected scores, has it at 77.94 to 72.01.

However, the other influential analytics site (BartTorvik.com) doesn’t have the gap as big, predicting just a four-point Gonzaga win (77-73).

Georgia doesn’t have the same experience that Gonzaga does. Its two leading scorers – Asa Newell (15.3 PPG, 6.8 RPG) and Silas Demary (13.4 PPG, 4.0 RPG, 3.1 APG) – are a freshman and sophomore, respectively. UGA didn’t make the tournament last year, so this will be the first taste of March Madness action for both. (Note that Georgia did reach the semifinals of the 2024 NIT.)

Georgia has also proven to be incredibly streaky this year. They went 14-2 to start the year, then lost nine of 11, and then won four in a row to end the regular season. That streak didn’t parlay into SEC Tournament success, though, as UGA was bounced in their first game by Oklahoma (81-75).

UGA vs GONZ Player Props

Georgia vs Gonzaga player props from bet365 on March 19. Get March Madness bracket tips here.

Ike leads the point total at 16.5, one more than Georgia’s dynamic duo of Newell and Demary.

Ike also has the highest rebound total of the night at 7.5, again one higher than Newell.

Ryan Nembhard, the nation’s leader in dimes, has the highest assist total per usual at 8.5.

Georgia vs Gonzaga Picks

• Newell under 15.5 points (-135)

Newell, a 6’11 freshman, is averaging 15.3 PPG, which is just under his point total for the game (15.5 PPG), and he has only exceeded that number once in the last five games; he had 21 during UGA’s SEC Tournament loss to Oklahoma.

The Zags have a much better defense that the Sooners, sitting 29th in defensive efficiency compared to 69th, and Gonzaga is limiting opponents to 49.1% from inside the arc compared to 54.9% for the defensively-suspect Sooners.

In his first taste of NCAA Tournament action, the talented freshman stays under 15.5 points while facing a considerably-more-experienced Gonzaga frontcourt.

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