Santa Clara vs. Gonzaga prediction: Gonzaga favored to win men's college basketball matchup [1/8/2026]

Gonzaga and Santa Clara will meet in men's college basketball action at McCarthey Athletic Center on Thursday, with tipoff at 11:30 PM ET.

Based on updated simulations, Dimers' advanced college basketball model predicts Gonzaga as the most likely winner of the Santa Clara vs. Gonzaga game.

This article offers an expanded analysis of Thursday's matchup, including an expanded look at the predicted score, best bets and picks.

Santa Clara vs. Gonzaga prediction: Who will win and cover?

Using trusted machine learning and data analysis, we have simulated the result of Thursday's NCAA basketball matchup between Santa Clara and Gonzaga 10,000 times as part of our men's college basketball predictions coverage.

Our independent predictive model currently gives Gonzaga a 92% chance of beating Santa Clara. Our predicted final score has Gonzaga winning 89-72.

According to our model, Gonzaga (-16.5) has a 53% chance of covering the spread, while the over/under total of 164.5 points has a 54% chance of staying under.

Santa Clara vs. Gonzaga odds

We have researched the best men's college basketball odds in America for this game, which are listed here:

All odds are correct at the time of publication and are subject to change.

Santa Clara vs. Gonzaga picks and best bet

After matching our predictions against the best available odds, we can reveal our picks for each of the major markets. Plus, find our best bet for the game below: