Donovan Clingan led all players with 21 points and eight rebounds as No. 5 UConn never trailed in defeating No. 10 Gonzaga 76–63 Friday night in the Continental Tire Seattle Tip-Off.
Cam Spencer scored 15 points for the Huskies (10-1) in a rematch of last season’s NCAA Tournament West Regional final, which UConn won 82–54 in Las Vegas.
Alex Karaban added 11 points and Tristen Newton and Hassan Diarra scored nine apiece in a balanced attack. Newton dished out a game-high five assists, the same total as the entire Gonzaga team.
It was the second loss to a team nicknamed the Huskies in Seattle in less than a week for the Bulldogs (8-3), who dropped a 78–73 decision on Dec. 9 at Washington.
Anton Watson led Gonzaga with 20 points and Ryan Nembhard added 15. Graham Ike, the Bulldogs’ leading scorer, was limited to five points on 2-of-5 shooting.
UConn built a 45–34 halftime lead by making 7 of 9 3-point attempts.
Clingan scored the game’s first four points in the paint and had eight in the first 3 1/2 minutes as the Huskies built an 11–4 lead.
UConn led 23–20 with 8:38 left in the half before Spencer scored 13 points over the next 5:44, including three 3-pointers.
His trey with 2:54 left put the Huskies up 40–32, and they extended their lead to as many as 13 points before the intermission.
Nembhard made a layup on Gonzaga’s opening possession of the second half, but Newton answered with a jumper in the paint and the Huskies led by double digits the rest of the way.
Karaban’s jumper in the paint extended the lead to 56–38 with 16:27 left, the Huskies’ largest lead of the night.
The Bulldogs trimmed the lead to 68–58 with 4:04 left before Clingan scored on an alley-oop dunk off a pass from Diarra as UConn regained momentum.
UConn shot 55.8 percent from the field (29 of 52) while limiting Gonzaga to 39 percent (23 of 59), including just 2 of 12 from 3-point range.
