The Gonzaga Bulldogs take on the San Francisco Dons in San Francisco, CA. Tip-off is set for 11 p.m. ET on ESPN2.
Gonzaga is favored by 14.5 points on the spread with a moneyline of -1600. The total is set at 148.5 points.
Here’s my Gonzaga vs. San Francisco prediction and college basketball picks for February 18, 2026.
Gonzaga vs San Francisco Prediction
My Pick: Gonzaga -14.5
My Gonzaga vs San Francisco best bet is on the Bulldogs to cover the spread. For all of your college basketball bets, be sure to find the best lines by using our live NCAAB odds page.
Gonzaga vs. San Francisco Odds, Spread
| Gonzaga Odds | ||
|---|---|---|
| Spread | Total | Moneyline |
-14.5 -105 | 148.5 -108 / -112 | -1600 |
| San Francisco Odds | ||
|---|---|---|
| Spread | Total | Moneyline |
+14.5 -115 | 148.5 -108 / -112 | +900 |
- Gonzaga vs San Francisco spread: Gonzaga -14.5
- Gonzaga vs San Francisco over/under: 148.5 points
- Gonzaga vs San Francisco moneyline: Gonzaga -1600, San Francisco +900
Gonzaga vs San Francisco NCAAB Betting Preview
Gonzaga Basketball
Gonzaga is following the normal path for past dominant Bulldogs teams: play (and beat) quality opponents in the non-conference slate and cruise through the WCC schedule with only a few slight bumps in the road.
However, the loss Gonzaga took in conference to 197th-ranked Portland was the worst team (according to KenPom rankings) to beat the Zags since they lost to San Francisco in the 2009-10 season.
Still, Gonzaga is going to be a massive favorite in most WCC games, except for any matchups against Santa Clara and Saint Mary's. With the Saint Mary's game still a week and a half away and the loss to Portland fresh in their minds, the Zags have come out with extra energy and focus recently.
Gonzaga's last three games (since losing to Portland) consisted of a 20-point road win against Oregon State, a 30-point home victory against Washington State and an eight-point road win against a Santa Clara team that's good enough to be squarely on the bubble of the NCAA Tournament.
When these two teams played earlier in the season, Gonzaga won 68-66 despite shooting 3-for-18 from the 3-point line and 11-for-22 from the free-throw line.
If the Bulldogs can just have an average shooting night, this game will look a lot different than the first matchup between these two teams.
San Francisco Basketball
San Francisco has a rich recent history of coaching pedigree. Kyle Smith left the Dons to go to Washington State and is now at Stanford, while his successor — Todd Golden — left to lead Florida to a National Championship in his third year with the Gators.
Current coach Chris Gerlufsen has continued that strong tradition, but he's in the middle of a bad season.
The Dons are ranked 123rd in KenPom, on track for their worst ranking since ending the season 158th in 2017-18 (Smith's second year). While San Francisco showed flashes of being a solid team early in the season by claiming wins against Minnesota and Mississippi State, it's also suffered some bad losses.
San Francisco was 13-8 overall and 5-3 in conference entering the first matchup with Gonzaga, which turned into a two-point game. Since that 13-8 start, the Dons are 2-5 and have fallen to 7-8 in conference play, including unexpected home losses to Loyola Marymount and Oregon State.
Wednesday presents a massive opportunity for the Dons to pull off an upset, as Gonzaga has won a whopping 34 games in a row in this head-to-head matchup.
However, San Francisco has been trending in the wrong direction for nearly a month now, and it's hard to believe this season will flip on a dime.
Gonzaga vs. San Francisco Betting Analysis
The first matchup between these two teams saw a Gonzaga team that was rapidly nearing its first loss of the season learning to adapt to life without Braden Huff. The Bulldogs didn't make anything easier by having their second-worst game of the season from behind the arc (the worst game was the early-season loss to Michigan).
The Bulldogs have now played without Huff for nearly a month, and it feels like they've adapted to a better offensive flow without his presence. Gonzaga has scored at least 80 points in each of its last four games after scoring above 80 in only one of its previous four.
San Francisco shot 50% (14-for-28) from the 3-point line in the first matchup between these teams, which was the most triples made against Gonzaga all season (even more than Michigan made en route to a 101-point performance).
I expect the Dons to shoot a ton of 3s again (that's essentially their game plan all the time), but for the Zags' defense to play a lot better this time around.
With much more normal shooting numbers on both sides, back Gonzaga — which has been playing much better recently — to secure a very comfortable win.
My Pick: Gonzaga -14.5
