Gonzaga players reflect on season after Elite 8 loss to UConn in NCAA Tournament

LAS VEGAS — Gonzaga's season ended on Saturday night with an 82-54 loss to UConn in the Elite Eight of the 2023 NCAA Tournament.

After the game, Bulldogs' players spoke with the media in the locker room and reflected on the season. Drew Timme, Malachi Smith, Julian Strawther and Anton Watson all spoke with Gonzaga Nation.

You can watch the full interviews in the video above. Here are the highlights of what the players said:

Timme on his career at Gonzaga:

"The reason why I am so emotional is because of how much I've given to this team and this program has given to me. It's been the best time of my life. I'm forever in debt to Gonzaga, Spokane, the whole Zag community for allowing me to be me and going along on this fun journey. I wouldn't change this ride for anything."

Strawther on the UConn loss and Gonzaga's season overall:

"We're in a lot of pain. This isn't how we wanted to go out. I'm just extremely proud of this group of guys. We fought this whole year and showed a lot of resilience and a lot of fight."

Smith on Timme's fourth foul against UConn:

"It wasn't a foul so I don't know what there was to see. It wasn't a foul. I'm not one to talk about refs and stuff. At the end of the day, all you can control is how we play, but we were pushing and shoving the whole game, so it's just they want to pick and choose when to do that stuff. It was a little frustrating."

Watson on what went wrong against UConn:

"In the second half, they came out hot and started hitting three's. At that point, it was just too hard to come back."