OU Basketball: UConn's Dan Hurley 'Impressed' By Oklahoma, Says 'You See What They're Capable Of'

RALEIGH, NC — Going into Friday’s NCAA Tournament game against Oklahoma, Connecticut coach Dan Hurley might be a bit biased.

“Excited for this time of year to be participating in the best sporting event that we do on a yearly basis in our country,” Hurley said Thursday. “Well, Super Bowl. Maybe March Madness. It's close.”

What could be better for Hurley? Born of basketball royalty — his dad is New Jersey high school coaching legend Bob Hurley Sr., and his big brother is Duke hoops hero Bobby Hurley (now head coach at Arizona State) — Dan Hurley was named head coach at Connecticut in 2018 and was instantly charged with cleaning up the mess left behind by Kevin Ollie. Ollie won a national title himself in 2014, but also incurred way too many losses as well as NCAA probation.

Hurley, a former Seton Hall point guard under P.J. Carlesimo, started his college coaching career as an assistant at Rutgers in 1997 before a decade in high school (he built St. Benedict’s Prep into a high school powerhouse).

He was head coach at Wagner for two seasons and at Rhode Island at six seasons before UConn hired him.

In his fifth season in Storrs, Hurley won the national championship. In his sixth, with one of the most dominant teams in recent history, he did it again.

And in Friday’s 8:30 p.m. tipoff at North Carolina State’s Lenovo Center, the 9-seed Huskies square off against 8-seed Oklahoma for the fifth time in history (OU leads the series 3-1).

If Hurley’s comments at Thursday’s press conference are genuine, then Oklahoma could be in trouble.

“As crazy as it sounds, probably just, we're more battle tested (than last year),” Hurley said. “Just been through way more, this team has been, from getting knocked on our ass at Maui and that meltdown out there. …”

Hurley then detailed the team’s other “meltdowns” and recurring injuries that produced a 23-10 record.

“We just had … so many moments that we're not accustomed to for where the team's been the last couple years that were very jarring,” he said.

“I feel like in a weird way it's a little pressure off of us going into the tournament where like we could just go out and let it rip right now. We don't have this huge pressure of expectations. A lot of people don't think we're going to win the first game.”

Players naturally began the season dreaming about the “three-peat” — something that hasn’t been done in college basketball since John Wooden’s UCLA dynasty in the 1970s.

But, as Hurley said, that quickly changed when the Huskies lost a 2-point overtime game to Memphis, a 1-point game to Colorado, and an 18-point game to Dayton.

“Going into the season, that was one of our goals,” said center Samson Johnson. “But we take it one game at a time. We don't want to put any pressure on ourselves. If you don't win the next game, you don't advance.”

Guard Silo Ball leads UConn at 14.6 points per game. Forward Liam McNeeley was the Big East Freshman of the Year while averaging 14.6 points and 6.1 rebounds per game. Swingman and captain Alex Karaban averages 14.4 points, 5.2 rebounds and 2.9 assists. Point guard Hassan Diarra averages 5.8 assists per game, which ranks in the top 25 nationally. Center Tarris Reed leads the team with 7.3 boards per game and was the Big East Sixth Man of the Year.

In short, Hurley has another stacked roster.

But the Huskies sound equally impressed with their opponent.

“They've played in the gauntlet of the SEC, so they're battle tested,” Karaban said. “So we've got to be ready from the jump. They've got terrific players — (Jeremiah) Fears, (Jalon) Moore, their surrounding cast — they're a really good team, super well-coached. They get it after it defensively. So we have to really bring our A game if we want to beat them.”

Hurley agrees and thinks Oklahoma, even with a 6-12 conference record, proved itself to be on the postseason stage.

“Impressed just watching Oklahoma, going back watching the non-conference performance,” Hurley said. “Then obviously seeing the strength of the SEC Conference.

“Just seeing hard-ass games. … That league this year, it's just a total monster. It was like the whole league was NCAA-caliber — like, literally 18 NCAA Tournament games.

“You go back, you watch their non-conference, how well they played in the Bahamas, how well they played to beat Michigan. Obviously the Arizona game in the Bahamas, you see what they're capable of.

“When Fears is dynamic and able to get wherever he wants to go on the court, he triggers a lot of things offensively for them with Moore and (Duke) Miles. They've just got a lot of depth and a lot of weapons, especially at the guard spots with (Kobe) Elvis. They've got a lot of fire power. They're a really, really good offensive team.”