Kennesaw State (21-13) vs. Gonzaga (30-3) March 19, 2026 10:00 pm EDT The Line: Gonzaga -20.5; Over/Under: 154.5 (Get latest betting odds)
The Kennesaw State Owls and the Gonzaga Bulldogs meet Thursday in NCAA Tournament First Round college basketball action from Moda Center in Portland. Here’s a Gonzaga vs. Kennesaw State prediction. We will look at this from a betting perspective and determine the best Gonzaga vs. Kennesaw State pick.
The Owls were sitting at 12-6 overall back on January 17, then hit a rough 2-5 stretch featuring losses to Sam Houston, LA Tech, Jacksonville State, Middle Tennessee and Sam Houston. After wins over Missouri State, LA Tech, Liberty and Delaware, the Owls lost to UTEP and New Mexico State. In the conference tournament, Kennesaw State dispatched Western Kentucky, Sam Houston and LA Tech for the championship.
Matched up against LA Tech back on Saturday, the Owls came back out onto the floor after the break with a 35-32 lead. Kennesaw State hit a 36-28 run the rest of the way, powering out the victory in the end 71-60. The Owls were led by Jaden Harris with 18 points and three boards, while Amir Taylor added 17 points with six rebounds and two steals alongside one assist.
Over on the Gonzaga side, they were just coming off a nice 16-game winning streak in early February, beating teams like Kentucky, UCLA and Oregon during that time. The Bulldogs lost to Portland, then beat Oregon State, Washington State, Santa Clara, San Francisco, Pacific and Portland before a loss to Saint Mary’s. Gonzaga beat Oregon State and Santa Clara in the conference tournament.
In the matchup with Santa Clara last Tuesday, the Bulldogs were in the locker room at the break with a 33-29 deficit. Gonzaga fought back from there on a 50-35 stretch and took the win in the end, 79-68. Leading the team in scoring was Mario Saint-Supery with 21 points, five rebounds and four assists. Tyon Grant-Foster added 20 points with seven rebounds and two assists.
I’ll stay with the Bulldogs. Gonzaga started out slowly against Santa Clara in their last outing but finished strong on an eventual 52.8 percent shooting, a 36-24 edge in the paint and just eight turnovers. It wasn’t perfect though, as the Bulldogs shot just 13-of-23 (56.5 percent) at the line. The 38.2 percent shooting surrendered on defense helped make up for it, though. Gonzaga has had a few lapses this year but overall they’ve been a pretty consistent team. The Bulldogs are 8-1 in their last nine outings, but it’s worth noting that they’ve scored fewer than 66 points in two of the last three.
As for Kennesaw State, they shot 43.1 percent from the field while holding LA Tech to just 30.6 percent on defense in their tournament championship. The Owls were outmuscled on the boards and outscored in the paint, though. Kennesaw State is 7-2 in their last nine games with 71 or more points scored in eight of those. Gonzaga will mark a big uptick in competition, though.