Up 15 points with three minutes to play in Monday’s national championship game, Dan Hurley wasn’t letting off the gas. In fact, he might’ve gotten a little too into the game.
Hurley received a sideline warning for pushing Cam Spencer into position. The referee was standing right next to him when it happened, and it resulted in UConn’s seventh turnover of the night against Purdue.
It didn’t make too much of a difference in the game, though, as the Huskies continued to cruise in the second half with a second consecutive national title in their sights.
UConn dominated in every facet of this year’s NCAA Tournament and finished it off with a 75-60 victory over Purdue Monday night in Phoenix. That put the Huskies in the same breath as the 2006 and 2007 Florida Gators, led by Billy Donovan, who won back-to-back national championships. It also means Hurley joins the likes of John Wooden and Mike Krzyzewski as coaches to repeat as champions.
That fact was not lost on him.
“It means a lot,” Hurley said after the final buzzer. “I’m a student of the game. Basketball’s been my life. I have so much respect for the history of this game. Me and Luke Murray had some talk about, if we won this one, maybe we’ll both retire on Tuesday. So this is it for me and for him.”
When Tracey Wolfson called him out, Hurley admitted he wasn’t ready to actually step away.
“No, that’s all [a joke],” he said with a grin.
Dan Hurley has coached harder since NIL started
Hurley has clearly made his mark on the program over the last few years, leading UConn to its fifth and sixth championships in program history. But he’s kicked things up a notch since NIL came to be in 2021, and the reason for that is to get the most out of his players as they also capitalize off the court.
It’s safe to say, it’s working.
“I’ll say this. I personally coach hard,” Hurley said during a Friday press conference. “I coach these guys – the last two years since NIL started, I’ve coached my teams harder than I’ve coached any teams just because of everything that these guys now have at their disposal. The resources that the University of Connecticut and programs now invest in these players is not for their attendance.
“It’s not just to be on campus. It’s to produce and to produce winning. The way we travel, you know, the residence, the full-service dining we have in our 40 million plus practice facility, the NIL opportunities.”
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