Dan Hurley Details How UConn Shut Down Illinois' Offense in Final Four

The Illini had no answers against the Huskies' defense on Saturday. UConn coach Dan Hurley reveals his club's game plan in the matchup.

Apr 4, 2026; Indianapolis, IN, USA; UConn Huskies head coach Dan Hurley celebrates after defeating the Illinois Fighting Illini in a semifinal of the Final Four of the men's 2026 NCAA Tournament at Lucas Oil Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Trevor Ruszkowski-Imagn Images | Trevor Ruszkowski-Imagn Images

Illinois, which owned the top-rated offense for the majority of the 2025-26 campaign (per KenPom), was as versatile, balanced and potent a group as you see in college basketball. All five starters averaged at least one three-pointer per game and each shot at least 30 percent from long range.

With one of the best five-out offenses the sport has known, these Illini were practically unstoppable on that end. Defenses were forced to pick the lesser of many evils – which is exactly what UConn did Saturday in its 71-62 win over Illinois in the Final Four.

The Huskies, per coach Dan Hurley, actually elected to “live with” David Mirkovic (37.5 percent from three on the year) and Tomislav Ivisic (31.3 percent from long range) on the perimeter – which, based purely on the numbers, is a game plan the Illini would have welcomed.

Yet on Saturday night, the pair went just 3-for-10 from deep – a less-than-desirable efficiency rate, though hardly abysmal. Unfortunately, the rest of the squad went just 3-for-16, resulting in an overall team performance of just 6-for-26 from long range.

But the plan didn't account only for Mirkovic and Ivisic. Clearly, Hurley had the belief in his defenders to stop Illinois’ isolation scorers. He chose wisely: Illinois shot 33.9 percent from the field and had just three assists as a team.

Dan Hurley explains how UConn stifled Illinois' offense in Final Four

Apr 4, 2026; Indianapolis, IN, USA; UConn Huskies head coach Dan Hurley reacts after a play against the Illinois Fighting Illini during the first half of a semifinal of the Final Four of the men's 2026 NCAA Tournament at Lucas Oil Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Bob Donnan-Imagn Images | Bob Donnan-Imagn Images

“A lot of that has to do with how we guard,” Hurley said of the Illini’s offensive woes. “And again, we both could have made more shots. We’ll both go back and look at the game [and] see the missed opportunities. For us, it’s very important for our players in one-on-one situations to be able to hold up on an island.

“Like a cornerback in football that plays a lot of man coverage, because we do want to try to take the three-point line away from players like [Jake] Davis in this game [and] try to limit [Keaton] Wagler to the tough contested off-the-dribble ones. Ben [Humrichous] is an excellent three-point shooter. We were willing to live with Mirkovic and Ivisic – kind of stunt them, because they were 30 percent [three-point] shooters. So we picked our poison with some of the guys that we were willing to let shoot the three.”

UConn was admittedly impressive in one-on-one defensive situations. And the Huskies did grant both Mirkovic and Ivisic enough space to stay strong in help side. But the reality was, Illinois also missed a lot of open shots, which is the uncontrollable part of the game.

Then again, those are the shots the Huskies appeared happy enough to give the Illini. And although Illinois coach Brad Underwood said he “wouldn’t do anything on that side over again," his squad did shoot just 33.9 percent in the contest – a number that will rarely win any game, let alone a Final Four battle against the national champs in two of the past three seasons. And that's why UConn will be playing for yet another title on Monday.