Gonzaga’s Austin Daye hit 3 of 4 free throws down the stretch as A.J. Price’s 3-point shot rolled out at the buzzer giving the Bulldogs a hard fought 85-82 win over UConn in The Hartford Hall of Fame Showcase at the TD Bank North Garden in Boston on Saturday afternoon.
The Huskies (5-2) were led by Price who tied his career high with 24 points. Jerome Dyson scored 19 points while Jeff Adrien had 15 points and 9 rebounds. Stanley Robinson rounded out the Huskies in double figures with 11 points.
The victorious Bulldogs (7-1) were paced by Jeremy Pargo’s 23 points. Matt Bouldin chipped in with 19 points while Micah Downs added 14 points. David Pendergraft added 10 points for Gonzaga.
UConn started out shooting the ball very well as they got out to leads of 13-3 and 24-14 before Gonzaga battled back. Gonzaga made it’s comeback when Price and Hasheem Thabeet both picked up their second foul. A Pendergraft 3-pointer with 1 second left in the first half gave the Bulldogs a 45-44 lead.
The teams traded baskets in the second half before UConn pulled ahead by 4 with just over 6 minutes left to play in the. Bouldin scored the next 9 points for Gonzaga. The lead would change four more times down the stretch but in the end it was Gonzaga who had the lead and made their free throws to hold off the Huskies.
UConn is off until Thursday when they face Northeastern at Gampel Pavilion at 7:30 PM. After that, UConn will be off for final exams.
Notes and Observations:
The starters were Price, Dyson, Robinson, Thabeet and Adrien.
Gonzaga and UConn had faced twice before with the Huskies winning both times. The first time was in the 1999 NCAA tournament in the West Regional Final and the second time was when UConn beat them in the 2005 Maui Invitational Final on Denham Brown’s jump shot.
Gonzaga was with out “mushroom boy” Josh Heyvelt who is out with a fractured foot.
There were several former Huskies in the crowd at the game. Ray Allen was there with a few of his Celtics teammates while Donyell Marshall and Donny Marshall were spotted as well. Donyell is there with the Cleveland Cavaliers who take on the Celtics tomorrow afternoon.
UConn started out the first half making 7 of 16 3-point shots. They ended up 9 of 28 in the game from 3-point land. The 9 made 3’s were a season high for the Huskies.
Free throw shooting for the Huskies was okay as they made 23 of 32 (71.9%) while Gonzaga was 21 of 34 (61.8%).
UConn shot only 37.9% (25 of 66) in the game while Gonzaga shot 43.3% (26 of 60).
