Betting odds, point spread for Gonzaga Bulldogs vs. Oregon State Beavers WCC men's college basketball game

The Bulldogs enter the matchup against the Beavers as 9.5-point betting favorites

Cole Forsman | Jan 16, 2025

Gonzaga Bulldogs forward Ben Gregg. / Photo by Erik Smith, Myk Crawford

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The Gonzaga Bulldogs (14-4, 5-0 WCC) head down to Corvallis, Oregon, for the first time in three decades to take on the Oregon State Beavers (13-5, 3-2 WCC) in their first clash as West Coast Conference rivals.

There isn't a whole lot of history between the Pacific Northwest schools heading into Thursday night's matchup on CBS Sports Network. Gonzaga and Oregon State have played each other 27 times before and not since 1991. That's about to change drastically for the foreseeable future though, as both will compete in conference play this season and next, before joining the Pac-12 Conference together in 2025-26.

"This league is going to be a lot tougher this year," Gonzaga head coach Mark Few said after the Washington State game. "It's a lot tougher. The additions [of WSU and Oregon State] are very, very good. They’re big, they're physical. They got some nice players.

"[Oregon State head coach] Wayne [Tinkle] comes all the way from the Mike Montgomery coaching tree, so all those Montana teams, the Stanford teams; they duck you in and post you really, really hard. They flash a guy high-low, and he's got some nice shooters on the outside, a quick little point guard, and they mix up their defenses a lot."

LIVE SCORE UPDATES, HIGHLIGHTS: GONZAGA VS. OREGON STATE

The Bulldogs enter the matchup coming off an 88-75 victory over the Cougars on Saturday. Graham Ike led the way with 21 points, his seventh 20-point game of the season, as the Zags raced away from their in-state rival with a 15-5 scoring run to open the second half. Nolan Hickman chipped in 19 points and seven boards.

Ike leads the country's fourth-highest-scoring offense at 16.6 points per game. Gonzaga's 87.8 points per game is also on pace to be the third-highest in program history. Senior guard Ryan Nembhard leads the country with 169 total assists.

For the Beavers, Parsa Fallah led the way with 25 points in a 91-55 blowout win over Pacific on Saturday. Michael Rataj added 15 points and grabbed nine boards, as Oregon State outrebounded the Tigers, 36-19. The Beavers rank No. 1 in the WCC in allowing the fewest rebounds per game (29.2).

Rataj paces Oregon State in scoring at 16.6 points while also grabbing a team-high 8.5 rebounds per game.

"They're huge," Few said of the Beavers' size. "They're huge. It's another big team. It's another team that likes to post really, really hard."

The Bulldogs, who've won 11 straight true road games, are 7.5-point favorites over the Beavers heading into Thursday night's game. However, Oregon State has been dominant at Gill Coliseum this season, boasting a 10-1 record while defeating its opponents by a margin of 20.2 points per win at home. The Beavers have covered the spread in nine of their 10 home games against Division-I opponents, while the Zags have beat the spread in two of the three true road games they've had this season.