The defending national champions are traveling nearly 3,000 miles to take on a Gonzaga team searching for its first marquee victory of 2023.
The Bulldogs are playing in their home state but must travel four hours from Spokane to Seattle, playing in the Emerald City for the second time in less than a week.
Gonzaga fell, 78-73, to Washington on Saturday as five-point favorites.
UConn vs. Gonzaga prediction
(10 p.m. ET. ESPN)
This also marks the Zags’ semi-annual Battle in Seattle matchup.
They’ve played nine games in this series in the past 15 years, often facing national powers like Arizona, Illinois and Tennessee.
This time it’s UConn, which will return the favor next season when the Huskies host the Bulldogs at Madison Square Garden.
Dan Hurley’s team flew under the radar last season, ranking as low as 20th in the AP Poll in mid-February before going on its title run.
This season, Hurley and company haven’t had that luxury.
As marked men, the Huskies are getting everyone’s best shot, but so far they have been up to the task.
At 9-1 on the season, UConn’s only blemish came in a four-point loss to Kansas at Phog Allen Fieldhouse.
Cam Spencer missed a would-be game-winning three-pointer in the final seconds. Outside of that, it’s been business as usual for the Huskies.
They handled Indiana, Texas and North Carolina by double digits at MSG.
UConn is one of three teams (Arizona, Purdue) to rank in the top 12 of Bart Torvik’s offensive and defensive efficiency metrics and remains an advanced analytics darling due to the team’s style of play.
Ninety percent of UConn’s attempts come from three-point range or at the rim, which is the 13th-highest percentage in the country.
And the balance between its superstars has flummoxed opposing coaching staffs.
UConn features four starters who average 13 or more points per game, with a perfect split between their backcourt and frontcourt.
Tristen Newton is playing at a Big East Player of the Year level (17.1/7.2/6.1) and freshman superstar Stephon Castle is just getting back into game shape after suffering a knee injury in mid-November.
The scary part for the Big East and the rest of the country with national title aspirations is that UConn has played at such a high level without a breakout season from Donovan Clingan.
He’s flashed potential on both ends of the floor but was a non-factor in comfortable wins over Texas and North Carolina, playing a combined 32 minutes.
With a deep and skilled Gonzaga frontcourt on Friday, he’ll need to elevate his play and avoid foul trouble.
Speaking of the Gonzaga frontcourt, this might be Mark Few’s most talented collection of rebounders the Bulldogs’ national title run in 2017.
That team finished 12th nationally in rebounding margin behind Zach Collins, Jonathan Williams and Przemek Karnowski.
Betting on College Basketball?
This Gonzaga team has a pair of elite rebounders in Graham Ike and Anton Watson and two huge rotational players that will be able to match UConn’s size down low (Huff, Gregg).
While I believe the Bulldogs can hang with UConn on the glass, I have less faith that their guards can hang with an elite Husky backcourt.
Ryan Nembhard has struggled with turnovers against top teams this season, and Nolan Hickman has yet to crack 20 points in a single game.
They need one of those guards to take on the scoring load because UConn will be throwing bodies at Ike on the low block and speeding this game up in transition.
In the end, I don’t see Few’s guards putting it all together for the first time this season.
Recommendation: UConn -4 (play to -5.5) — BetMGM Sportsbook
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