On Sunday, March 26th the 4th seed UConn Huskies faced off with the number 3 seed Gonzaga Bulldogs in the widely watched Elite Eight game. The Huskies went into the game 28-8, and the Bulldogs went in with a record of 31-5. 

UConn seemingly breezed through to the Elite Eight, beating Iona, St. Mary’s, and Arkansas. While Gonzaga had some close games, but ended up beating Grand Canyon, TCU, and UCLA to punch their ticket to the Elite Eight. 

First taking a look at UConn, junior forward Adama Sanogo, who scored 18 points for the Huskies in Thursday’s win over Arkansas, was on his game, and had been a huge weapon for the Huskies, averaging 17.3 points in 26.6 minutes of game time. Another weapon UConn had on the court was Sophomore guard Jordan Hawkins, who put up 24 points against Arkansas. Hawkins had averaged 16.1 points in 29.4 minutes of game time. 

Moving on to Gonzaga, coming off of a 36 point game against UCLA, Drew Timme was the biggest weapon for Gonzaga this season, and the season prior. This year, Timme claimed Gonzaga’s All-Time Point leader. Undoubtedly, Timme is one of the best players in college basketball. Another weapon for the Bulldogs is junior Julian Strawther, who hit the heroic three-point shot against UCLA that sent Gonzaga to the Elite Eight. Strawther averaged 15.4 points per game. 

Looking at the odds for the matchup, UConn had the odds, with the spread being -2.5 in UConn’s favor. Over/under for the game was 153.5 points scored. According to ESPN Analytics, the Match-up Predictor had UConn with a 57.6% chance to win, which left Gonzaga with a 42.2% chance of winning. 

The final score of UConn Gonzaga was 82-54, with UConn advancing to the Final Four.  The Final Four will be played on Saturday, April 1st at 8:49pm in Houston, TX.