Dan Hurley reveals the biggest key to UConn's success during run to national title game

The UConn Huskies have impressed everybody with their dominant run through the NCAA Tournament thus far. That run continued on Saturday, defeating Miami 72-59 in the Final Four to advance to the 2023 National Championship Game. After the win, UConn head coach Dan Hurley revealed the biggest key to his team’s success through March Madness.

In Hurley’s eyes, UConn’s ability to play a complete game from top to bottom is the key ingredient to this ongoing run.

“I think what we’re doing — when we’re playing harder than the other team, which is our calling card, going like plus nine on the glass, playing elite defense and having a lot of answers on offense, there’s nowhere where we’re weak as a team, and we’re deep,” Hurley said.

UConn’s physicality has been on display throughout the tournament. The Huskies, the No. 4 seed in the West Region, have had a tough road to reach this point. UConn is averaging a margin of victory over five tournament games, defeating No. 13 seed Iona, No. 5 Saint Mary’s, No. 8 Arkansas, No. 3 Gonzaga to win the West Region before beating No. 5 Miami.

“So we’re able to kind of body blow our opponent and continue to just put together quality possessions at both ends and the backboard, and it has a cumulative effect,” Hurley added. “It’s been able to break opponents.”

Hurley on UConn’s ‘unique’ style of play

This season has been far from a straight line for UConn. The Huskies started the year 14-0 overall and 3-0 against Big East opponents. But they then went through an eight-game stretch with just two victories, falling to 16-6 overall and 5-6 in Big East play.

UConn ended on a strong note, winning eight of their last nine regular season games before winning one game in the Big East Tournament.

Now, in the NCAA Tournament, UConn’s style of play is brand new for every team on the opposing sideline. Hurley believes that’s a big reason behind UConn’s dominance thus far.

“And we are a unique team in terms of our style of play, which hurts you in conference play because people are a lot more familiar,” said Hurley. “They see you twice. The games are much more physical. When people see us for the first time with the two centers and all the shooting, there’s no real players like Andre Jackson in the country, he’s so hard to prepare for. So we’re a unique team.”

Hurley doesn’t want to end UConn’s run on a losing note, though, and there is one obstacle left in the way. The Huskies will face off against San Diego State, the South Region’s No. 5 seed, with a national championship on the line on Monday night. Tip is set for 9:20 p.m. ET.