Washington State vs Gonzaga Prediction 1/15/26 College Basketball Picks Today

The Gonzaga Bulldogs and the Washington State Cougars meet Thursday in college basketball action from Beasley Coliseum in Pullman. Here’s a Washington State vs Gonzaga prediction. We will look at this from a betting perspective and determine the best Washington State vs Gonzaga pick.

Gonzaga Bulldogs Betting Preview

The Bulldogs were able to win their first seven straight games at the beginning of the year, then took a loss to Michigan on November 26. Gonzaga has since remained unbeaten, taking out Kentucky, North Florida, UCLA, Campbell, Oregon, Pepperdine, San Diego, Seattle, Loyola Marymount and Santa Clara since their lone defeat. That gives the Bulldogs a nice 17-1 record over 18 games so far this season.

In the Santa Clara matchup last Thursday, the Bulldogs went into the break with a 37-37 tie. Gonzaga found their stride in the second half, notching a 52-40 run from there in an 89-77 win in the end. Leading the team in scoring was Graham Ike with 34 points and 11 rebounds. Emmanuel Innocenti added 13 points with four rebounds and Braden Huff had 12 points with six rebounds.

Washington State Cougars Betting Preview

Over on the Washington State side, they limped to a 3-8 opening run this year. The losses were versus Idaho, Davidson, Washington, Arizona State, Seton Hall, Bradley Nevada and USC. Since then it’s been a 5-2 run for the Cougars with wins over Eastern Washington, Mercer, Portland, Loyola Marymount and Oregon State in that time. The Cougars have an 8-10 overall run in their first 18 games of the year.

Matched up against the Gaels last weekend, the Cougars entered the second half with a 12-point deficit 50-38. Washington State got better from there on a 44-38 run but couldn’t make the comeback in an eventual loss 88-82. Ace Glass topped the scoring on 24 points with six rebounds and ND Okafor added 14 points with seven boards. Eemeli Yalaho added 12 points and three rebounds as well.

Why the Washington State Cougars will win

• The home team has won each of Washington State’s last four games.
• The home team has won the first half in each of Washington State’s last four games.

Why the Gonzaga Bulldogs will win

• Gonzaga has won each of its last 29 January road games as a top-15 AP-ranked team.
• Washington State has lost 18 of its last 20 night games against AP-ranked opponents.
• Gonzaga has won the first half in each of its last seven road games against non-AP-ranked opponents.

Washington State vs Gonzaga Prediction

I’ll stay with the Bulldogs. Gonzaga started off on a pretty slow run in the first half during their latest win over Santa Clara but eventually got it going on a nice 57.6 percent from the field and a 50-34 advantage on points in the paint. The Bulldogs did get a little turnover-happy (13) and had a slim rebounding edge 32-30, though. Gonzaga has now won 10 straight games, and they’ve scored 77 or more points in all 17 of their victories so far this year. Washington State will have to step on the offensive gas in order to keep any kind of pace here.

Speaking of Washington State, they couldn’t quite keep up with a good Saint Mary’s team in their last outing. The Cougars shot 54.5 percent from the field with a 40-16 advantage in the paint but also had 12 turnovers and fell victim to a perfect 20-for-20 at the line from the Gaels. Washington State is 2-1 in their last three games though, with 78 or more points in all three of those outings.