Announcement

**StarDust Bum** · 12-15-2011, 08:16 PM

Gonzaga hosts Oral Roberts Thursday

ORAL ROBERTS GOLDEN EAGLES (7-3)

at GONZAGA BULLDOGS (5-2)

Tip-off: Thursday, 9:00 p.m. EDT
Line: Gonzaga -12, Total: 139.5

Two of the country’s premiere mid-major programs go head-to-head when Gonzaga hosts Oral Roberts Thursday night.

It’s been a rough start to the year for Oral Roberts, who is in the midst of a tough four-game road trip. They lost by 14 at Oklahoma, and needed a half-court prayer at the buzzer to pull out a win at Arkansas-Little Rock despite being 8.5-point road favorites. The Golden Eagles are now 1-6 ATS on the year. Gonzaga is coming off a couple disappointing games of its own, losing SU and ATS at Illinois and at home versus Michigan State, snapping its seven-game SU home winning streak. But the Zags have played a tougher schedule so far; four of their seven games have been against schools from the six “power conferences” (going 2-2 SU). And in 15 home games against non-conference opponents the past two seasons, the Zags have won 10 of them by double-digits. GONZAGA is the pick for Thursday.

The FoxSheets have a four-star trend based on ORU head coach Scott Sutton that’s working against the Golden Eagles:

Sutton is 3-17 ATS (15.0%, -15.7 Units) after having won 3 of their last 4 games as the coach of ORAL ROBERTS. The average score was ORAL ROBERTS 73.5, OPPONENT 69.9 - (Rating = 4*).

Gonzaga has a definite advantage inside, where 7-foot, 260-pound C Robert Sacre (16.4 PPG, 7.1 RPG) and 6-foot-7, 240-pound F Elias Harris (12.0 PPG, 8.1 RPG) have developed into one of the nation’s best frontcourt tandems. The Golden Eagles will likely struggle against the physicality of Sacre, who is averaging an amazing 9.6 free throw attempts per game, tops in the nation, over 29.1 minutes per game. He’s also shooting 79% from the line. Throw in the solid freshman backcourt tandem of sharp-shooting Kevin Pangos (13.3 PPG, 46% from three) and defensive specialist Gary Bell, and the Bulldogs have as much talent as any mid-major in the country.

Oral Roberts’ athletic but slender frontcourt has carried the team so far. Senior SF Dominique Morrison (16.2 PPG) is the No. 1 option on offense for a third straight season, but he’s struggled to find his shooting range (22% from three this season, 37% in his first three years). Sophomore PF Steven Roundtree (11.2 PPG, 6.8 RPG) had some fine moments early in the season, scoring double-digits in his first five games, but since then he’s scored a total of 33 points over his past five. At 6-foot-8 but just 190 pounds, he’ll have his hands full against Gonzaga’s size. Senior SF Michael Craion (11.8 PPG, 7.5 RPG) has bounced back nicely from the broken foot that cost him all of 2010-11.

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