What Gonzaga's Mark Few said after loss to UConn at Madison Square Garden

The Bulldogs went cold from the field in their 77-71 loss to UConn

Gonzaga Bulldogs head coach Mark Few. / Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images

Mark Few and the Gonzaga Bulldogs haven't been ones to shy away from a challenge when it comes to finding opponents to put on their nonconference schedule every season. Marquee wins in November and December have historically paved a smoother path toward March and the NCAA Tournament.

While the Zags (7-3) already boast a few notable victories in 2024-25, they've also let a few winnable contests slip through their grasp as of late. Gonzaga had back-to-back opportunities to knock off a college basketball blueblood over the past two weekends, yet the school now faces its first two-game losing skid since 2018 following Saturday night's 77-71 loss to UConn (8-3) at Madison Square Garden. Similar to last week's 90-89 overtime loss to Kentucky, the Bulldogs fell flat in crunch time, missing six of their last seven field goal attempts after briefly tying things up with the Huskies near the midway point in the second half.

"Got some great looks and just didn't convert," Few said after the game. "Actually it was a heck of a basketball game. It was highly competitive. It was hard fought, and it was probably the most physical game played this year."

Here's more of what Gonzaga's head coach had to say following the loss.

On Liam McNeely's career-high 26 points for the Huskies:

"He was great tonight. He really, really was and listen, UConn — they just have the heart of a champion man, just like Dan [Hurley]. He kind of brings that out of them. To me, we knew it was going to be a physical fist fight and I kind of thought we broke that task. They just made a couple more of those baskets. A lot of them, or some of them were off [second-chance points], they just pound the offensive boards at five positions. It's a handful to kind of try to guess where it's coming from, but [McNeely] did a great job on the glass, did a great job going down the hill and he's a big guard that can finish."

On the physicality between the Zags and Huskies:

"I think players and coaches just kind of have to wait and see ... there's a gray area in basketball, and you just got to get a feel for how it's being officiated. I think both teams understood that and kind of played to it. We're more than happy to play that style. We're more happy to play a finesse, run up and down and get 120 [points]; we can do either one. But I was actually pleased with how we handled that. I just wish we could finish more plays, especially those ones around the rim."

On how Khalif Battle's 21-point performance kept the Bulldogs in the fight:

"We got off to such a rough start in the first half. I mean he had some huge, huge shots to keep us in it and then get us up over the hump there for a while. And he responded again in the second half, and I thought he did a nice job too, just kind of taking what they were giving and we put them in a lot of ball screen actions and he made some really nice passes that we didn't quite finish, but they made the right decision."

MORE GONZAGA NEWS & ANALYSIS

• Gonzaga goes cold from the field in loss to UConn at Madison Square Garden: 3 takeaways

• Gonzaga-UConn features NCAA Tournament implications for both teams

• UConn Huskies 77, Gonzaga Bulldogs 71 : Live score recap, highlights from men's college basketball game

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