Dan Hurley is back at it again.
The latest episode in the UConn coach’s string of antics came Sunday after Braylon Mullins drained a game-winning 3 against Duke to send the Huskies to the Final Four.
Once Mullins’ shot landed with 0.4 seconds left on the clock, Hurley screamed, flung both arms in the air and hugged his fellow coaches in jubilation.
After making his way further down the bench, Hurley landed near one of the referees.
Instead of passing by or saying some words to him, Hurley stared him down and pressed his forehead into the referee’s before walking away.
Many fans speculated if the action should’ve led to a technical foul on the Huskies, who had pulled ahead 73-72, which stood as the final score.
“Bro if he would’ve gotten a tech would’ve regretted that rest of his life. He lucky the ref a cool dude,” one user wrote on X.
“How the hell didn’t this get him a T? This is insane behavior. I hate Duke but this guy is very, very unlikeable,” another said.
Despite his antics, Hurley was part of the reason the Huskies were even still in the game in the first place.
Duke took a commanding 44-29 halftime lead and led by as much as 19 in the first half.
But the Huskies battled back, hitting four of their last five triples — including Mullins’ dagger — after starting the game 1-of-18 from beyond the arc.
They also forced Duke into 13 turnovers and scored 20 points off those giveaways.
The comeback ended with Mullins’ shot, pushing him to 10 points on the day. The freshman is now averaging 11.9 points on 43.4 percent shooting in his first year of college basketball.
Hurley compared the result to UConn’s season-long journey — a string of comebacks that’s led to a 33-5 record and Final Four berth.
“That’s just another chapter in the UConn-Duke NCAA tournament dramatics,” Hurley said postgame. “We’ve had to show a lot of fortitude and resilience and just claw our way through the season. Thought the game was a microcosm of that. We fought, we clawed, put ourselves in position to take advantage of a mistake that they made.”
Now, UConn will battle Illinois in the Final Four and one of Arizona and Michigan in the finals should the Huskies advance.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
