UConn HC Calls Out End of BYU Loss
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For all the fireworks UConn brought to Boston, the final minutes felt like a slow-motion unraveling. The 20-point cushion that the Huskies held almost suddenly vanished to make a two-point escape. Silas Demary Jr., Alex Karaban, and Tarris Reed Jr. all scored 21 points in the 86-84 win against BYU.
The offense was good, and the stars who were expected to deliver brought their magic. However, the whistle symphony almost threatened to flip the entire night on its head, setting the stage for Dan Hurley to provide the kind of postgame assessment only he can. And that’s where things got even more interesting.
“I thought we played great for 25, 26 minutes. You know, up 20, really guarding, and I thought we were pretty sharp offensively,” said Hurley, pointing to the 59–39 second-half lead that felt like UConn at its peak. “Then we had some breakdowns. Obviously, the amount of fouling and the number of times we put them at the line allowed AJ (Dybantsa) to get a rhythm going. And that’s as high a level of shot-making as you're going to see in college basketball. I mean, that guy… with the threes, and he hasn’t even been making threes to start the year. He’s been more of a rim guy. But he had the whole bag going tonight.”
NO. 3 UCONN FENDS OFF THE COMEBACK 😳
— NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessMBB) November 16, 2025
The Huskies win a top-10 showdown over No. 7 BYU in Boston 🐺 pic.twitter.com/cuTQ6cZRH2
BYU closed fast, closed hard and closed with three perimeter weapons that Hurley clearly respects. As Hurley put it, “When you’ve got (Richie) Saunders, (Robert) Wright, Dybantsa, three guys like that on the perimeter, that’s serious firepower.” On one hand, guarding them was a task of its own kind, and to make things more difficult, the fouls were the door UConn kept reopening.
While UConn shot 56.6% and looked every bit like a top-three team for long stretches, foul trouble dragged the game into a slog, with 21 team fouls, 18 free throws on 23 attempts from BYU, and a parade of whistles kept the Cougars alive even as the Huskies had a chance to blow the doors off early.
BYU didn’t hit a three until 1:05 left in the first half, but they didn’t need them. Free throws were the lifeline. That lifeline became the reason UConn’s dominant night suddenly started to wobble, turning a smooth win into a late-game grind that exposed cracks Hurley didn’t hesitate to talk about.
“The last 15 minutes, we just kind of hung on and weren’t very good against pressure. We lost some integrity on the ball, and the foul trouble obviously hurt.” Hurley said, acknowledging pressure issues, ball-handling lapses, and foul trouble that left rotations strained.
Yet amid the criticism came a dose of praise for BYU and its players.
“But credit to BYU. Those guys showed real fight today. They could’ve walked out of here losing by 20 easily, but they dug their heels in. They showed they have a heck of a coach, a real culture, and a real chance to compete for championships,” added Hurley.
What Awaits Dan Hurley and UConn Next?
Next up, UConn faces a familiar foe, Arizona. The Huskies hold a 5–2 advantage in the series against Arizona with wins as tight as 65–63 and as comfortable as 79–70. However, their last meeting was in 2018.
That meeting belonged to the Wildcats. The Huskies lost 72–76 in Hartford, where UConn was undone by timely shooting and late free throws. It was a back-and-forth battle then, and it promises to be another now.
Hurley will have to face a team that thrives on tempo and length. That means foul issues like the ones against BYU can’t follow the Huskies west. The stakes rise, the margin for error tightens, and the whistles might as well decide everything.
-fd44250df32912986cc6690f0b8bfa32.png "Shivani Menon")
Shivani Menon is a sports journalist with a background in Mass Communication and a passion for storytelling. She has written for EssentiallySports, College Sports Network, and PFSN, covering Olympic sports like track and field, gymnastics, and alpine skiing, as well as college football, basketball, March Madness, and the NBL Draft. When she's not reporting, she's either on the road chasing sunsets or getting lost in the rhythms of electronic soundscapes.