With the college basketball season getting more and more interesting as the weeks go by, some massive matchups are coming up. The upcoming weekend includes UConn facing Gonzaga in Seattle and then Arizona facing Purdue in Indianapolis in a top-3 showdown. Northwestern's loss to Chicago State was horrible for the Wildcats, who just got ranked in the top 25, and an upset alert is going to be on for numerous programs across the country.

As far as the Gonzaga vs. UConn basketball matchup is concerned, the national champion Huskies have just one loss this season and it came against Kansas on the road on the first day of December. They have been tested with wins over Texas and North Carolina, and Dan Hurley's team is looking like a potential Final Four pick once again.

Gonzaga lost a lot of talent after the 2022-2023 season, but they are 8-2 with wins over USC and Syracuse and the two losses coming to Purdue and Washington on the road in an interstate rivalry. With this being a matchup of two top-10 teams, there is plenty of talent on the floor, and here are some players to watch on Friday night on ESPN2 as Gonzaga and UConn face off.

Graham Ike, Ginzaga 

If you watched the Mountain West the last season or two, you absolutely know Graham Ike's name. He was a star for the Wyoming Cowboys before coming to Gonzaga and he has emerged as the leading scorer for the Bulldogs. Ike is averaging 14.2 PPG with 7.9 rebounds and has made the transition from a mid-major to a top-tier program seamless so far.

He has double figures in scoring in all but one game (it came against UCLA where he had four fouls), and he has three double-doubles, all while averaging just 22 minutes per game so far.

Ike had 25 points and 11 rebounds against Eastern Oregon, 16 and 14 against Syracuse, and 14 and 10 against USC, so he has had no issues fitting in with the new program. Ike has a tough task in this loaded Gonzaga-UConn matchup, but he has certainly been the focal point of the Gonzaga basketball program through the first six weeks of the season.

Tristen Newton, UConn

The redshirt senior has been the biggest part of UConn's success and he has stepped in after Jordan Hawkins and others left following the national title run. Newton has done everything he has been asked to, leading the team with 17 PPG and adding 7.2 rebounds and 6.1 assists, all of which are also team-highs.

He has three games this year with 20 or more points, has scored double digits in all but one, has three double-doubles and one triple-double, and dropped 31 points with six three-pointers in the loss to Kansas.

Dan Hurley spoke highly of Newton in November and said he should be discussed as “one of the best guards in the country”, and so far, Newton certainly belongs in those conversations. With UConn and Gonzaga being a huge matchup, Newton will be the main focal point for the Huskies.

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Braden Huff, Gonzaga 

If you look at Huff's numbers, it seems a bit misleading. He is fifth on Gonzaga's roster in scoring with 11.7 PPG and averaged just 14.7 minutes a game. But, the freshman has made the most of his opportunities in his first season in Spokane. The 6-foot-10 Huff has six games with double figures, including a 23-point performance in just 14 minutes against Eastern Oregon at the start of the season.

He has battled foul trouble at times this season and has yet to play more than 20 minutes a game, but when he is on the floor, he is a pure difference-maker. Huff began his Gonzaga basketball career with 19 points and nine rebounds on 7-10 from the field against Yale, and he should be a massive part of the rotation going forward.

Stephon Castle, UConn 

UConn has four players averaging double figures and three with more than 515 pints per game, but Stephon Castle isn't one of them. He played the first two games of the season and then missed the next six with an injury before returning against North Carolina. Since returning from injury, he has played just 28 minutes and scored a total of 10 points as he gets his legs back under him.

Still, Castle is a sparkplug waiting to catch fire for this UConn basketball team. In his first two games of his UConn basketball career, he had 29 combined points on just 8-12 from the field with 12 free throws in that stretch. The freshman flashes big-play potential and shows exactly why Hurley is going to have to find minutes for him as the season progresses.

The Huskies have been off since December 9, so Castle could play a huge role in the showdown with Gonzaga.