Retail bettors were in agony on Thursday evening after Georgia State held on, precariously, to cover its +22.5 spread.
Gonzaga to cover had the most individual tickets at PointsBet out of Thursday's March Madness games. The Bulldogs were also the third-most popular pick at WynnBet.
Georgia State had been up 54-52 with just 13 minutes remaining in the second half against No. 1 overall seed Gonzaga. The Panthers had been +2500 underdogs to pull off one of the biggest upsets in college basketball history.
After that point, the Bulldogs went on a 41-18 run, and were even up by 26 with less than a minute to go — enough to cover.
That's before Georgia State scored five points in the closing seconds.
The Panthers cut the lead to 21, good for a Georgia State cover by 1.5 points.
Favorites had been 10-1 against the spread (ATS) before Gonzaga failed to hold onto its lead.
The Bulldogs struggled out the gate and only led the Panthers by two heading into halftime. The two teams toggled for position throughout the first 10 minutes of the second half, but Gonzaga finally started to show why it's the No. 1 team in the country.
Gonzaga used a 21-1 run to effectively end the game. Drew Time scored 22 of his 32 points in the second half after going cold for the majority of the first 20 minutes.
Gonzaga to win had also been a part of a DraftKings promotion. Their odds were boosted from -10000 to +100 to win, with a $50 max bet. The sportsbook experienced server issues shortly before the promotion was due to be paid out.
