The No. 8 seed Gonzaga Bulldogs will take on the No. 9 seed Georgia Bulldogs in the 1st Round of the 2025 NCAA Tournament in Wichita, Kansas on Thursday. Gonzaga opened as a 5.5-point favorite. This is probably the best first-round game in the tournament. It is the first time since 2015 Georgia has made the NCAA Tournament.
Georgia is one of 14 teams from the SEC to qualify for the tournament. Gonzaga is always a good tournament story. 8-9 games are frequently the best in the NCAA Tournament. This one might be better than most. Do you think this will be a great game?
Georgia’s Key Players
Georgia is led in scoring at 15.3 points per game by Asa Newell. He is a 6-foot-11 forward. He is a wrecking ball who averages 6.8 rebounds per game. He will be difficult for the Zags to handle. You can view them here.
Defensive efficiency is important in the NCAA Tournament play. Georgia is not very defensively efficient. They rank 58th in the nation despite playing in the very competitive SEC. That is not a good statistic.
It is possible Georgia, who ranks 43rd in the nation in rebounding efficiency, does not get enough rebounds to be successful in the NCAA Tournament. Rebounding missed shots is very important. In high-pressure games, like the NCAA Tournament, fundamentals matter more.
Gonzaga’s Key Players
Gonzaga is quite a bit deeper than Georgia. That depth should help them. They have five players who average more than 10 points a game. The leading scorer for Gonzaga, who are commonly called the Zags, is Graham Ike. Ike is a senior 6-foot-9 forward from Aurora, Colorado. He averages 17.1 points per game. He matches up well with Newell. Khalif Battle is a senior guard from Hillside, New Jersey. He averages 13.2 points per game for Gonzaga. The third leading scorer for the Bulldogs is Nolan Hickman. He is also a senior guard from Seattle, Washington. He averages 11.0 points per game.
The fourth-leading scorer from the Bulldogs is sophomore Forward Braden Huff. He is also from Glen Ellyn, Illinois. The 6-foot-10 player averages 10.8 points per game and 3.2 rebounds. The fifth-leading scorer is Ryan Nembhard. He also averages 10.8 points for the Zags. Those are the five starters for the Bulldogs. You can view all of the statistics for Gonzaga here.
Gonzaga is 17th in the nation in the all-important defensive efficiency metrics. Their defense is so good they may strangle Georgia. This ranking is much better than Georgia’s rank of 58. When you combine this with the fact Gonzaga ranks 18th in the nation in rebounding efficiency, Gonzaga has a significant advantage.
What is Next?
The winner of this game will place the winner between Houston and IU. Houston is very good and the winner of this game, whoever it is, will face a difficult challenge. Gonzaga will play the Georgia Bulldogs on Thursday at 4:35 p.m. The game will be on CBS. The winner will play presumably Houston on Saturday, although the time of that game is to be determined.
Prediction
The Bulldogs are ranked ninth in the Ken Pom rankings. Georgia is ranked 34th. This is a large discrepancy, and it points to Bulldogs from Washington winning the game. The Pomeroy rankings are comprehensive, so this is valuable.
Defensive efficiency is also very important to success in the NCAA Tournament. This statistic is also telling for this game. Gonzaga is ranked 17th in the nation in defensive efficiency and UGA is ranked 58th.
Conclusion
This 8-9 game between Gonzaga and Georgia is very compelling. It may be the most compelling game in the NCAA Tournament’s first round. Though Gonzaga should win, a close game will occur. One that is sure to please the fans in Wichita. This battle of the Bulldogs will be entertaining and a battle for the ages. That said, Gonzaga has too many advantages and should prevail.
