LAS VEGAS — Gonzaga is coming off an all time game on Thursday night. Julian Strawther with a shot that will go down as an iconic moment in Gonzaga history to beat UCLA.
Now, the Zags have to quickly turn their attention to a real tough UConn team.
"It was kind of one of those things kind of like a short memory, because, I mean, in March, there's no time to dwell on the past and, and you know, try to live in that moment too much," said junior guard Julian Strawther. "yeah, I mean, tomorrow's already game day. So that's what we got our eyes set on."
"Everybody's fired up and excited to still be playing in the greatest sporting event in the world," said head coach Mark Few. "It was a short night. And UConn presents a lot of problems."
Those problems come in big man Adama Sanogo and sophomore guard Jordan Hawkins. Sanogo leads the Huskies with 17.3 points per game.
"He's an All-American caliber player. He uses his body really well. He's strong. He's aggressive. He gets a lot of his misses back which I think is underrated part of his game. He presents a lot of challenges and he's a smart player. So I mean, he's gonna be a handful for sure," said senior forward Drew Timme.
Hawkins averaged 16.1 points a game this season and is coming off a 24 point performance in the 88-65 win over Arkansas in the Sweet 16.
"You can be there in his space and have a hand up and he's still able to hit those. He's so dangerous," said Few. "He's had, I think multiple 20 point halves, so he's definitely at the top of our list."
The last time Gonzaga had a game winning shot in the tourney, the Bulldogs ended up disappointed in the following game. Drew Timme is hoping to take what he learned from that into Saturday,
"We did celebrate. It was the Final Four and the championship, like that's such a huge moment. This year, what we did was we just watched film when we got home and I think that helped a lot kind of put things into perspective," said Timme. "We saw how good UConn was. Obviously, that moment was great, but it is a quick turnaround and that's what makes the tournament so hard."
Tip-off for Gonzaga and UConn is set for 5:49 p.m. at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
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