Dan Hurley discusses what went into January slump, late-season bounce-back effort

UConn hasn’t played a close game in the NCAA Tournament, consistently blowing opponents out. For those who watched Dan Hurley and the Huskies struggle in January of this season, it’s incredibly surprising.

Now, Hurley explained what caused that slump in January.

“Yeah, it’s funny, I add to this answer,” Dan Hurley said. “You just get better at answering it, right, because a lot of things happened. Our defense tanked. We went from an elite defensive team. We didn’t guard anybody for two weeks. So we got soft. We got away from our identity.”

A big part of the issue, from Dan Hurley’s point of view, was the schedule in January. The Big East is a tough and physical basketball conference and that was taking its toll on UConn.

“I think part of it was like the Big East got us. I mean, our top four, five in the Big East this year, Providence. Before Providence, kind of struggled late. Our top five was better than any other conference’s top five. Especially our top four. If Zach] Freemantle doesn’t get hurt — Xavier is a much different team and we played Xavier with Freemantle. That easily could have been a Final Four team with him,” Hurley said.

That happened to us. I started fighting with the refs, and it distracted me from coaching and it had a negative effect on the team. That went on for — I was on the phone with the head of officials more than I was watching film. It was a mistake.

Despite those problems, UConn didn’t spiral and was able to move on. The Huskies have done so in dominant fashion too, cruising to the Final Four.

“So it was multiple things went on. But I wouldn’t underestimate just scheduling getting us. When you go to Xavier and you go to Providence and your breather is Creighton at home, who I think had swept us since we’d been in the league, and now your next game is at Marquette, it’s easy to get in a bad way,” Hurley explained.

“But I think it was multiple things. But we burned — we burned that. We didn’t actually burn it, but we left that behind. In November, December, February, March, we’ve been as good as anybody.”

Dan Hurley and UConn play Miami in the Final Four. Win moves on to the championship game against either FAU or San Diego State.

Dan Hurley on staying calm

Emotions run high in the NCAA Tournament. They run even higher during the Final Four. Luckily, for UConn, Dan Hurley is confident he can keep those emotions in check.

“It’s automatic this time of year. Every player knows what to do. They understand your style of play. They understand your tactics on offense and defense. Obviously you’re tailoring it to your opponent and how you want to attack them at both ends of the court. Everyone knows their role,” Hurley said.

“So everything kind of this time of year is automatic. You know as a coach how you’re going to call the game. For me, it’s just I’m trying to keep these guys in that balance between like the edge that you need to have as a team so that you don’t get complacent but not making them uptight and nervous keeping that confidence.”