Dan Hurley Sets Tone as UConn Enters Sweet 16
In this story:
The UConn Huskies faced UCLA in the second round of March Madness. The game ended with the Huskies winning 73-57. They trailed early on for over 10 minutes, but managed to control the game after a 14-5 burst before halftime. With that win, the Huskies now head to yet another Sweet 16.
UConn now sits on a 31-5 overall record and enters its third Sweet 16 in four years. This is the Huskies’ 17th all-time appearance, and in the last four times UConn has reached this stage, it has cut down the nets.
Recently, Dan Hurley was on ESPN's ‘The Pat McAfee Show’, where he was asked whether the Huskies' Big East Tournament closing loss to St. John’s was a catalyst for the team to do better as they prep for the Sweet 16.
“I’ve already got all types of tools I use, psychological, motivational tactics and such. When you get to the conference championship game on Saturday, you’ve got to win it. Credit St. John’s, they’re hard to beat at home at MSG. They’re tough in Big East games. They’ve got one of the best coaches of all time,” said Hurley.
The Huskies have faced St.John’s three times this season and won just one of the matchups. Interestingly, the two matches the Huskies lost were played at Madison Square Garden.
Hurley, regardless of who the Huskies face, says that the team is “confident.”
“For us, I think we’re very confident this time of year. When we get to the NCAA tournament, if you look at our record and what we’ve accomplished the last couple of years, even last year when we didn’t have our best team, we still put ourselves in position to win that second-round game against Florida,” said Hurley.
Last season, the Huskies exited early. UConn faced top-seeded Florida and lost 77-75. It was a close match to say the least. UConn is now 74-33 all-time in the NCAA tournament, and Hurley himself owns a 17-5 March Madness record, including 15-3 at Connecticut.
“We’re confident because we feel like we play our best basketball against non-conference opponents, teams that aren’t as familiar with us. And once UConn gets out of the first round, once we get through that first weekend, it usually feels like, watch out Huskies,” added Hurley.
Huskies head to Sweet 16 to face Spartans
The No. 3-seed Spartans come with a 27-7 record. In their last game, the Spartans went against North Dakota State and won 92-67. They also took down Louisville 77-69.
The Spartans have Coen Carr, who is averaging 19.0 points per game in the tournament, and Carson Cooper, adding 14.5 points and 7.5 rebounds.
The two programs have split eight all-time meetings, including postseason matches in 2009 and 2014, and even faced off in an exhibition earlier this season. The exhibition ended with a 77-69 UConn win.
-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.