NCAA MEN’S BASKETBALL GAMEDAY
NO. 4 UCONN VS. NO. 3 GONZAGA
When: Saturday, 8:49 p.m. (EST)
Where: T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas, Nev.
Records: UConn 28-8, Gonzaga 31-5
TV: TBS
Radio: UConn Sports Network, WAVZ-New Haven (1300 AM), WGCH- Greenwich (1490 AM), WATR-Waterbury (1320 AM), WICH-Norwich (1310 AM, 94.5 FM), WILI-Wilimantic (1400 AM, 95.3 FM), 97.9 FM-ESPN Hartford, SiriusXM-983, SXM App 973
KEEP AN EYE ON
Battle of the big men: There have been a lot of great big men in college basketball this season, making the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Award for the nation’s best center perhaps the most hotly contested of the five major positional awards.
Two of the very best bigs will lock horns on Saturday night when the UConn men’s basketball team faces Gonzaga in an Elite Eight matchup at T-Mobile Arena. UConn’s Adama Sanogo, a 6-foot-9, 240-pound specimen, is a finalist for the Abdul-Jabbar Award for a second straight season. A first-team all-Big East selection, Sanogo’s nifty footwork and touch around the rim, along with 3-point range unfurled this season, has made him one of the stars of the NCAA Tournament. Sanogo is averaging 23.3 points per game in the Huskies’ three victories.
Drew Timme has been a star at Gonzaga for what seems like the past decade. He’s now listed as a power forward and is a finalist for the Karl Malone Award, but the 6-10, 250-pound senior is a low-post terror. His 36 points and 13 rebounds led Gonzaga to its come-from-behind thriller over UCLA on Thursday night. Timme has now scored 20 or more points in an NCAA Tournament game a record 10 times in his career.
There will be plenty of other terrific players on the floor Saturday night. Jordan Hawkins, who scored a team-high 24 points in Thursday’s Sweet 16 romp over Arkansas, is a potential 2023 NBA first-round draft pick. Andre Jackson Jr. and Donovan Clingan, Sanogo’s 7-2 freshman backup, could also someday play in the league.
Gonzaga’s Julian Strawther hit the game-winning 35-footer 3-pointer to beat UCLA on Friday and is one of the better small forwards in the country. Rasir Bolton and Noah Hickman boast NCAA tourney experience.
But it’s Sanogo-Timme that will top the bill on Saturday night, a couple of throwback big men who may never be NBA stars, but are as good as it gets in the college basketball world right now.