Box score

NEW YORK – Freshmen Liam McNeeley scored a career-high 26 points, grabbed eight rebounds and dished out four assists to lead No. 18 UConn (8-3) to a 77-71 victory over No. 8 Gonzaga (7-3) on Saturday night at Basketball Hall Lead of Fame Series New York City at Madison Square Garden. The contest marked UConn’s non-conference final, its first top-10 win of the season and its second No. 2-ranked triumph.

The victory was the 300th^Th in the UConn head coach’s collegiate head coaching career Dan Hurley. Now in his seventh season in Connecticut and his 15th^Th As a college head coach, Hurley earned 38 wins in two seasons at Wagner, 113 in six seasons at Rhode Island and 149-plus during his time at Storrs. Along with his 223 wins in 10 seasons as head coach at St. Benedict’s Prep, Hurley has won 523 games in his 25 seasons^Th season as head coach.

UConn has now won 10 straight games in New York City, including the last eight at MSG. The win was also Connecticut’s third straight over Gonzaga in the last three years and snapped the Huskies’ all-time series against another of the country’s top programs, 6-2. The Huskies recovered from their tumultuous trip to Maui and entered conference play with four straight wins, including three against top majors.

McNeeley was the only starter to score in double figures, but he was placed at the top of the scoring list Tarris Reed Jr. And Jaylin Stewart with 12 and 10 from the bench respectively. Alex Karaban struggled with his long-distance shot, but scored eight points and five rebounds, including a clutch bucket, in the final minutes. Hassan Diarra dished out a team-high seven assists and Solo ball scored eight points.

How it happened

The Huskies exploded out of the chute and got the action going with a pair Samson Johnson Slams and a sprint to an 11-2 start before a ball dunk in transition forced a Gonzaga stoppage at 17:22. The Bulldogs rallied after the Huskies’ fast start and a 7-0 run cut the early lead to 20-19 before a Connecticut timeout at 9:47.

Two free throws after the break gave Gonzaga its first lead of the contest, one of which Connecticut quickly took back with one Tarris Reed Jr. The basket and foul ended a scoring drought of more than four minutes. That sparked an 8-0 run that increased the lead back to seven. The Bulldogs briefly regained the lead late in the first half, but UConn took a 43-40 lead thanks in part to 13 McNeeley points in the first half.

The Huskies continued to be successful in the second half and a Ball 3-pointer made it 53-44 at 16:47. Again Gonzaga fought back, and consecutive three-pointers by the Bulldogs tied the score at 55 and forced a UConn timeout with 11:51 to play.

Immediately after the interruption Stewart scored a personal 5-0 run with a 3-pointer before hitting a circus shot into the paint to give UConn some breathing room in front of the U-12 media. The Huskies continued after the stop and pushed the run to 10-0 with a score Reed Jr. flush and McNeeley 3-pointer to force another Gonzaga timeout with UConn down 65-55 with 10:09 on the clock.

The Bulldogs held on and were within four to one McNeeley Floater extended the lead to 73-67 before the U-4 media timeout. Gonzaga pulled within three minutes in the final minute with 59.4 minutes left to play Diarra found Karaban inside for a layup as the shot clock expired and the lead dwindled back to five. The Huskies would hold Gonzaga without a field goal in the final 3:25 minutes of regulation to seal the six-point triumph.

In the numbers

• UConn shot 45.8 percent from the floor (27-59) but struggled from distance, going 5 of 24 from 3-point range
• Gonzaga finished the game shooting 43.9 percent from the floor and 37.5 percent from deep, but shot 38.7 percent from the floor and 18.8 percent from three in the second half
• UConn went 18 of 21 (85.7 percent) from the line while Gonzaga went 15-19 (78.9).
• The Huskies had a slim 35-34 lead on the glass, led by McNeeley’s Game-high eight caramel candies and six game boards Reed Jr.
• Reed Jr. picked up three of UConn’s four blocks
• The Husky reserves outscored the Bulldog bench 26-17
• The contest included four ties and four lead changes, but UConn led 37-48

News and notes

• UConn is now 6-2 all-time against Gonzaga in the series, which dates back to 1999
• A career high of 26 for McNeeley surpasses his previous high of 20, which he set on November 26th

  • McNeeley was 7 of 13 from the floor, 2 of 7 from 3-point range and 10 of 12 from free throws
  • McNeeley scored his first six of the game from the free throw line before missing in the second half and snapping a streak of 24 straight from the line
  • According to ESPN stats and information: McNeeley is the fourth UConn player to score more than 25 points without a turnover against a ranked team since 1996–97, and the first since Shabazz Napier in 2012
  • Since then, he became the first Husky to make ten free throws in a game Tristen Newton in 2022

• Stewart For the third time this season and sixth time in his career, he scored in double figures – he averaged 8.7 per game in his last three games at MSG
• UConn They went 7-0 at Madison Square Garden and 2-0 at Barclays Center last season and improved to 10-0 the last two seasons in New York City
• Hurley is now 14-6 as UConn’s head coach at Madison Square Garden
• In total Hurley is 23-11 in ranked games at UConn and 20-7 in top-25 games over the last three seasons
• Samson Johnson was injured about nine minutes into the competition and did not return. He was 2-for-2 with four points and two rebounds six minutes before the injury, posting a +12

Next

The Huskies begin BIG EAST action on Wednesday, December 18, hosting Xavier at the XL Center. UConn is looking to defend both the BIG EAST regular season and tournament titles this season.