UConn set for Top-20 showdown with Gonzaga at MSG

NEW YORK – The no. 18 The UConn men’s basketball team (7-3) wraps up its regular-season non-conference slate with a huge test Saturday night, facing No. 8 Gonzaga (7-2) i Basketball Hall of Fame Series New York City at Madison Square Garden. Tip-off from the world’s most famous arena is set for 8 p.m. in a FOX Primetime Hoops showdown with Jason Benetti and Jim Jackson in the conversation.

UConn will make its debut at 4 Penn Plaza this season, a year after going 7-0 at MSG. The trip to the Mecca of Basketball will be one of three this season, with Connecticut returning to the ‘Storrs South’ on February 23 against St. John’s and of course for the BIG EAST tournament in March.

Saturday night’s top-20 game is part of the Basketball Hall of Fame Series, a ‘return’ game after the Huskies and Bulldogs last season in Seattle. UConn won that contest, 76-63, to run their all-time series record to 5-2. New York City will be the seventh destination for the series, dating back to the 1999 Elite Eight. The teams actually met twice in the 2023 calendar year, with UConn also beating Gonzaga in the 2023 West Regional Final in Las Vegas.

The Huskies are riding a three-game winning streak into Manhattan, bouncing back to quality wins last week over then-No. 15 Baylor and in Texas. Gonzaga dropped its last contest in an overtime heartbreaker to Kentucky, but owns quality wins already this season over Baylor, Arizona State, San Diego State and Indiana.

UConn earned preseason All-American and captain Alex Karaban back to Texas on Sunday and he didn’t miss a beat, posting his first career double-double with 21 points, 11 rebounds, four assists, two blocks and two steals. This season, Karaban leads the Huskies in scoring with 16.5 points per game. game while filling the stats with 5.0 rebounds, 3.4 assists and 2.0 blocks per game. match. His mark of 48.1 percent from 3-point range is one of the best in the country.

Also at the top of the score sheet for Connecticut is Solo ball, in the midst of a breakout sophomore campaign in which he averaged 12.9 points per game. game and has scored in double figures in all 10 contests. Last season, Ball averaged 3.3 per game. game and only hit double figures twice. Reigning BIG EAST Freshman of the Week Liam McNeely adding 12.4 points and 5.9 rebounds per game as a big man Tarris Reed Jr. is the fourth Husky in double figures with 11.0 points per game. game and adds a team-best 8.2 rebounds per game. competition.

Connecticut boasts a consensus top-five offense per each major metric shooting 50.4 percent from the floor and averaging 20.2 assists per competition. Samson Johnson is averaging double figures over his last five contests and is shooting a staggering 82.9 percent from the floor. Hassan Diarra moved into the starting lineup in late November and has flourished as a distributor, dishing out 6.8 assists per game as a starter.

Gonzaga is one of the top teams in the nation this season, checking in as the No. 8 in AP Poll and top-five in Kenpom, NET and Torvik. Graham Ike leads a balanced Gonzaga offense (No. 2 in Kenpom offensive efficiency) with 15.3 points and 7.0 rebounds per game, one of five averaging double figures. Ryan Nembhard, who has played in six career games against UConn including his time at Creighton, is adding 10.9 points and an NCAA-best 10.7 assists per game.

The Huskies will have very little breathing room after the conclusion of their non-conference gauntlet, opening BIG EAST play on Wednesday, Dec. 18 against Xavier at the XL Center.