Gonzaga-UConn series packed with thrillers, great venues, high stakes

They have met in Las Vegas, the Bahamas, Seattle, Boston and Maui after a memorable first clash in the 1999 Elite Eight.

Every game but one – UConn’s 82-54 rout over Gonzaga in the Elite Eight last March – has been a thriller and several produced program-changing outcomes.

The 10th-ranked Zags and fifth-ranked Huskies collide Friday at Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle for the seventh series meeting. No. 8 will come next season at Madison Square Garden in New York City.

The teams have packed a lot of history into the first six meetings. UConn holds a 4-2 edge. Here’s a look back at an entertaining series.

2023 Elite Eight: UConn 82, Gonzaga 54

The only lopsided result in series history unfolded eight months ago at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The Huskies were slight favorites, but they did to Gonzaga what they did to all six opponents in the NCAA Tournament: They won big.

The Zags absorbed their worst loss in March Madness. Fourth-seeded UConn marched to its fifth NCAA title with wins by 24, 15, 23, 28, 13 and 17 points.

GU trailed by four when Alex Karaban connected on a 3-pointer before the buzzer to put the Zags behind 39-32 at half. Drew Timme was whistled for his third and fourth fouls in the first 2-plus minutes of the second half.

A 10-point deficit ballooned to 21 by the time Timme returned just over 3 minutes later. Timme finished with 12 points – ending his streak of seven straight tourney games with at least 20 – and Julian Strawther was limited to 11. The duo averaged 36.4 points on the season.

“Look, we can say, ‘What if,’ right?” Timme said. “What if they didn’t call a foul? But the bottom line is they were the better team. They made more shots. They got the 50/50 balls.”

Gonzaga was held to season lows in points (54), field-goal percentage (33.3) and 3-point percentage (10.0). The 28-point margin was new territory in a series that saw the first five games settled by five, two, three, five and three points.

2015 Battle 4 Atlantis: Gonzaga 73, UConn 70

No. 10 Gonzaga cruised to a 21-point lead early in the second half, but the 18th-ranked Huskies roared back within one in the third-place game in the Bahamas.

Domantas Sabonis missed a shot in traffic, but guard Kyle Dranginis raced in for a clutch putback to give Gonzaga a 73-70 lead with 54 seconds left.

“Josh (Perkins) was crashing and my guy had to help box him out,” Dranginis said. “It kind of just bounced to me. That’s what happens when you hustle every time. You’re probably not going to get it every time, but that one out of 10 can make a big difference.”

Dranginis then intercepted a UConn pass, but the Huskies had one last possession. Przemek Karnowski swatted one 3-point attempt and a second was way off target at the buzzer.

Kyle Wiltjer led GU with 17 points, Eric McClellan had 15 and Silas Melson and Sabonis each had 12. Dranginis added seven points, eight rebounds and five assists.

“The third day of a tournament is all about showing what kind of competitor you are,” said head coach Mark Few, whose team lost to Texas A&M 62-61 in the semifinals. “You can pout after the disappointing loss we felt we should have won, or you can show up and compete.”

2008 Battle in Seattle: UConn 88, Gonzaga 83 (OT)No. 8 Gonzaga led by 11 with 11 minutes left, but late turnovers and an off-balance 3-pointer by UConn’s A.J. Price sent it to overtime.

Micah Downs and Matt Bouldin fouled out in the first 80 seconds of overtime. Jerome Dyson scored six points in overtime to carry the second-ranked Huskies.

Steven Gray poured in 23 points, Jeremy Pargo added 16, Josh Heytvelt 15 and Austin Daye 13. Price tallied 24 points.

“We needed one rebound there and one stop,” Few said. “We got the stop, we just didn’t get the rebound. And (then) Price hit an incredible shot.”

2007 Hartford Hall of Fame Showcase: Gonzaga 85, UConn 82

Gonzaga trailed by four midway through the second half at Boston’s TD Banknorth Garden but rallied behind Pargo, Bouldin and Downs.

There were seven lead changes in the second half, but GU moved on top 81-76 on David Pendergraft’s free throw and Pargo’s step-back jumper and two free throws. Daye hit 3 of 4 free throws to help the 19th-ranked Zags hold on in the closing seconds.

“Once you play basketball, all that goes away,” said Pargo, asked if there was any fatigue in the final contest of a five-game, nine-day stretch that took the Zags from Anchorage to the East Coast. “You can’t come into a game thinking you’re tired or you will come out with a loss.”

Pargo led four in double figures with 23 points. Bouldin finished with 19 points, Downs added 14 points and 11 boards and Pendergraft contributed 10 points and five boards.

2005 Maui Invitational: UConn 65, Gonzaga 63

The third-ranked Huskies outlasted the eighth-ranked Zags in a defensive brawl to claim the Maui Invitational championship.

Gonzaga rallied from a 58-50 deficit to pull even at 63 on J.P. Batista’s two free throws. Senior guard Denham Brown’s 8-foot jump hook over Adam Morrison with just over 1 second left gave the Huskies a hard-fought win.

“Adam did a tremendous job of defending a great one-on-one player in the open floor,” Few said. “(Brown) just hit a big-time shot.”

Batista and Morrison combined for 37 points, but the Zags lost forward Josh Heytvelt to a broken ankle midway through the first half. Morrison, who scored 43 points to lead GU to a 109-106 triple-overtime win over Michigan State in the semifinals, was named tournament MVP. He scored 86 points in three games.

UConn showed off its depth with reserve guard Rashad Anderson scoring a team-high 14 points and backup freshman Jeff Adrien adding 11. Rudy Gay, who went on to a 17-year NBA career, was in early foul trouble and scored just 10 points in 21 minutes.

1999 Elite Eight: UConn 67, Gonzaga 62

The 10th-seeded Zags’ magical tournament run came to an end in Phoenix when they couldn’t solve the Huskies’ defense.

GU shot a season-low 35.1% from the field, including 5 of 21 on 3-pointers. Matt Santangelo and Richie Frahm, who combined to average 35 points in Gonzaga’s three tournament wins, managed just nine points against the Huskies.

“It was a tremendous college basketball game,” Gonzaga coach Dan Monson said. “Both defenses really did a good job of disrupting the other team. Their defense was probably the best we’ve seen as far as disrupting us and taking us out of our offensive flow.”

Quentin Hall finished with 18 points, including an off-balance 3-pointer that trimmed UConn’s lead to 63-62 with 35 seconds remaining, but the Huskies sealed the win with four free throws.

Rip Hamilton scored 21 points for UConn, which went on to win the first of its five national titles in the past 25 years.

The Zags became NCAA Tournament mainstays and played for the title in 2017 and 2021.

“Just look at both teams’ win-loss records since then,” Connecticut head coach Jim Calhoun told ESPN in 2008. “We’ve both had national player of the years, successes, and (UConn) has had national championships.

“If we don’t win that (1999) game, then they have a great story to tell. But now we both have great stories to tell.”