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Dan Hurley sarcastically calls out Kelvin Sampson, Jon Scheyer for language toward officials

Barkley-Truaxby:Barkley Truax•04/06/25•

BarkleyTruax

Dan Hurley
Robert Deutsch | USA TODAY Sports

Saturday’s Final Four game between No. 1-seeds Houston and Duke provided an intense atmosphere, and emotions were high all night — particularly in the final minutes of regulation. The passion of the moment was clear as both Houston head coach Kelvin Sampson, and Duke head coach Jon Scheyer were not shy when letting their voices, or language, be heard to the officials on the court.

Responding to college basketball reporter John Fanta’s tweet regarding the specific words used by both coaches down the stretch in the matchup, UConn‘s Dan Hurley threw in a playful jab at both head coaches. He criticized them for bad-mouthing the officials.

“No way. What a disgrace!” Hurley tweeted.

The Huskies headman likely sent that tweet with a wink and a nudge, as he’s been known to give the officials at UConn games an earful a time or two each season. Most recently, Hurley made headlines due to his comments regarding the officials toward the Baylor Bears men’s basketball team after being eliminated from the NCAA Tournament’s Round of 32. Baylor was set to take the court ahead of their matchup against Duke moments after.

“I hope they don’t f*** you like they f***ed us,” Hurley said. “I really hope they don’t do that to you, Baylor.”

Hurley’s words came after UConn’s 77-75 loss to Florida in the second round. At the time, UConn’s NCAA Tournament exit was the first time it had been eliminated from the postseason since 2022. The Huskies were looking for a third consecutive national championship win this season.

They would have been the first team to earn this distinction since UCLA‘s run of seven in a row from 1967-1973, but ultimately ends short of that goal. UConn ultimately lost four of its starters last summer to the NBA from last season’s championship squad. The Huskies are just the third program in history to have won back to back national titles since UCLA’s runs with John Wooden. They joined Duke, who repeated as champions in 1991 and 1992, as well as Florida in 2006 and 2007.

Houston would go on to win the Final Four matchup 70-67, coming back from a 14-point defecit in the final eight minutes of the game to advance to the national championship game. They’ll take on Florida on Monday night to close out of 2024-25 college basketball season. Tip-off is scheduled for 8:50 p.m. ET live on CBS.