UConn Coach Gives Reasons Why Michigan Won National Championship

UConn coach Dan Hurley has led the Huskies to two national titles in the past four seasons for a reason.

He is undoubtedly one of the best in the sport when it comes to roster construction, motivating players, game planning and other elements that makes a head coach elite in college basketball.

Even though Michigan had an edge on UConn in both talent and size coming into Monday night's national championship game, the Huskies played the game at a pace that they needed to have a chance, thanks in part to an excellent gameplan from Hurley and his staff.

In the end, though, it wasn't enough as the Wolverines locked UConn up in their halfcourt defense, holding the Huskies to just 31% shooting and 9-of-33 from three-point range.

When Michigan's shots weren't falling and its offense was unable to get into a flow thanks to a physical UConn defense, it was the Wolverines' grit and ability to impact shots at the rim while finding just enough offense that allowed Dusty May's team to pull off the win.

In Hurley's postgame press conference, he gave full credit to the Wolverines and called them deserving champions for how they played Monday night and all season long.

Apr 6, 2026; Indianapolis, IN, USA; UConn Huskies head coach Dan Hurley talks to UConn Huskies forward Alex Karaban (11) against the Michigan Wolverines in the second half during the national championship 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

What Hurley said about Michigan

"It's one of the better teams that I've played, certainly since I've been a college basketball coach," Hurley said. "They're legit. They definitely deserve to win the national championship. They're clearly the best team in the country this year. They're just so hard to score against at the rim. I could talk about the threes that we missed tonight—I thought we had a lot of good threes that we missed. But they just made it so tough on us around the rim.

"There was probably—what even got us more than the missed threes were some of those rim shots. Solo's (Ball) transition basket where I think (could have) cut it to four, could have put some serious game pressure on them. They change so many shots around the rim. They're just so tall."

"It's one of the better teams that I've played."

🗣️ UConn coach Dan Hurley on national champ @umichbball #MFinalFour x #MarchMadness pic.twitter.com/0KUItOrgjq
— Big Ten Network (@BigTenNetwork) April 7, 2026

With the Michigan victory, the program secured its first national title in men's basketball since the 1989 season, when the Wolverines defeated Seton Hall in the championship that year.

Both programs will now have a quick turnaround to start to prepare for the 2026-27 season, with the transfer portal opening Tuesday as the offseason in college basketball commences.