Report: UConn, Gonzaga reach multi-year agreement to play neutral site games

UConn men’s basketball bolstered its nonconference schedule in a big way this week, as Jon Rothstein reports that the Huskies have agreed to a multi-year series with the Gonzaga Bulldogs that kicks off with a neutral site matchup next season in Seattle at Climate Pledge Arena. Mark Few’s Buldogs will then come to the East Coast the following season, taking on UConn in its home away from at Madison Square Garden. No dates or times have formally been announced.

The Huskies and Bulldogs most recently met in this year’s Elite Eight, where UConn demolished Gonzaga 82-54 in Las Vegas as part of its title run. UConn is 4-2 all-time in a series that dates back to 1999 and has exclusively been played at neutral sites.

After some lackluster nonconference schedules early in Dan Hurley’s tenure at UConn, the defending national champions have put together arguably the strongest out-of-conference schedule in decades as they look to repeat and win their sixth national title. Aside from the newly-added neutral site Gonzaga game, the Huskies will hit the road to take on Kansas as part of the Big East-Big 12 Battle, North Carolina at Madison Square Garden in the Jimmy V Classic and participate in the Empire Classic with Louisville, Indiana and Texas, which will also take place at the World’s Most Famous Arena.