WCC Tournament Semifinal Preview: #1 Gonzaga vs. #4 Pepperdine

Gonzaga and Pepperdine have advanced and will face each other in the Semifinals of the WCC Tournament on Monday, March 9.

Pepperdine is coming off of a 50-47 win over San Diego.  Stacy Davis dominated all categories.  He finished with 19 points, eight rebounds, and three assists.  Pepperdine will definitely need to play better team basketball if they hope to have a chance against the Zags.  Gonzaga has done a good job of shutting down their opponents’ best players this season.  Pepperdine will not be able to rely just on Davis.  Jett Raines and Jeremy Major are very capable of playing well, but against San Diego Raines only had four points and Major had seven.

More from 2015 WCC Tournament

• Looking Back on Gonzaga’s Season
• Gonzaga Wins Men’s WCC Championship
• BYU Wins Women’s WCC Tournament Championship
• WCC Tournament Men’s Final Preview: #1 Gonzaga vs. #2 BYU
• WCC Championship Keys to the Game: Gonzaga

It will be interesting to see if Gonzaga’s starting lineup changes at all with the injury to Kyle Wiltjer.  He is being evaluated today (Sunday), and as far as I know his status has not been announced yet.  Przemek Karnowski had a strong game down low in the post.  If he plays the way that he did against San Francisco then he will have another dominant game. It is interesting to note that in the game against San Francisco Kevin Pangos fouled out.  Gary Bell Jr. also finished the game with four fouls.  This could have been a disaster if the foul trouble had come earlier in the game.  Gonzaga will have to make sure that they play with passion, but without fouling too much.

I expect Gonzaga to roll with their new found momentum, beat Pepperdine, and advance to the WCC finals.

The game is Monday, March 9 at 6:00 Pacific.  It will be broadcast on ESPN.