Gonzaga and UConn were considered the top two teams in the field at the Battle 4 Atlantis coming in and many thought they would meet in the championship of this tournament. Instead, both teams were upset in the semifinals and they will have to settle for a matchup in the third place game. UConn comes in 4-1 and ranked 18th in the nation while Gonzaga comes in 3-1 and ranked 10th in the nation.
UConn handled Michigan in the first round of the tournament with relative ease but they could not beat Syracuse in the semifinals as they suffered their first loss of the season. UConn struggled to make shots in the game against Syracuse as they shot a season low 43 percent from the field and turned it over a season high 13 times.
One bright spot in the game for the Huskies was sophomore Daniel Hamilton. The former AAC Rookie of the Year got off to a slow start to the season but has really come on in this tournament. Hamilton put up a nice stat line of 18 points 12 rebounds and seven assists in the seminfinals but it still wasn't enough.
The Huskies will have their work cut out for them in this game as they will be going up against possibly the best frontcourt in the country so that means Amida Brimah will play a big role. The seven footer hasn't been getting that much playing time this year and because of that his rebounding numbers are low but he is a force in the paint on defense with blocked shots.
The Zags lost a nailbiter in the semifinals to a very underrated Texas A&M team and that was their first loss of the season. Gonzaga had been scoring the ball at will in their first three games putting up at least 80 points in each of them but were held to just 61 by the Aggies.
Despite the loss the Bulldogs got some strong performances including a nice game from their star Kyle Wiltjer. The preseason All-American dropped 18 points while making four of his eight three point attempts. Wiltjer is the teams leading scorer (19.3 PPG) and tied for the team lead in rebounding (8.5 RPG) but hadn't shot the ball well from distance until this past game so this could be a sign that he is breaking out.
Aside from Wiltjer freshman guard Josh Perkins also had a very good game as he put up 15 points despite being held scoreless in the first half. Gonzaga came into the season figuring to be extremely strong in the frontcourt but they had major question marks at guard so this game by Perkins, and the way he has played to start the season, is a good sign for the Bulldogs moving forward.
These two schools haven't met since 2008 when the Huskies defeated Gonzaga in an overtime thriller. Overall UConn has won three of the last four meetings between the programs but all four matchups have been decided by a total of 15 points so this should be another close one.
The game tips off at 12:30 Eastern time and to watch the live broadcast go here. For the Gonzaga radio broadcast go here and for the UConn radio broadcast go here.
