Dan Hurley Reveals UConn’s Mindset After St. John’s Loss
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This time, the cheers at Madison Square Garden were not for the UConn Huskies. They fell 72–52 to St. John’s in the Big East Tournament finals. The Huskies entered the game 29-5; however, issues that had been popping up all season proved costly.
The Huskies committed a season-high 17 turnovers and shot just 3-for-19 from beyond the arc. Meanwhile, St. John’s opened with a 10–0 run. By halftime, the Huskies trailed 40–27, and although a brief second-half push cut the deficit to seven, the comeback was not enough.
After a game like that, Dan Hurley was no doubt disappointed. And the biggest question for Hurley and the Huskies is whether the Huskies can hold their own when March Madness begins.
“Yeah, I think definitely. I mean, we didn't, you know, I think we've responded pretty well. We'll do the same thing. I'm not going to make the same mistakes with this team. I didn't crush them in there. I mean, they're crushed. The group is crushed. We laid an egg in something that we desperately wanted to win. I mean, we just laid an egg,” said Hurley.
This time, the Huskies even won the rebounding battle 38–30. However, the Red Storm’s defense managed to force mistakes, turning turnovers into a 24–10 scoring advantage. With that loss, UConn’s all-time record against St. John’s moves to 35–41, with a 3–5 mark against the Red Storm in Big East Tournament matchups.
Despite it all, the Huskies will not be dwelling on the loss. In fact, Hurley made it clear that the Huskies plan to do what they did in 2023.
As Hurley puts it, “We'll do is the same thing we did in ’23. We'll stay in the hotel tonight. The coaches will break down the film. We'll watch the edit in the morning with the team, and we'll leave the Big East Tournament experience here on Sunday morning. We know that we play our best basketball in the NCAA Tournament versus non-conference teams. So our group knows that. This is a really, really physical league. That was a really, really, really physical game. We're excited to play in the NCAA Tournament that doesn't get played like that.”
Back in the 2023 Big East Tournament, UConn also left MSG disappointed after losing the semifinals to Marquette. That night ended with a buzzer-beater and a narrow 70–68 defeat. Yet just weeks later, the Huskies made an iconic NCAA Tournament run. They went through March Madness, winning six straight games and ultimately capturing the national title with a 76–59 win over San Diego State.
UConn Now Awaits Its March Madness Path
As Hurley said, the Huskies have March to prove their mettle. However, the loss to St. John’s is bound to alter the top of the NCAA Tournament bracket. Earlier this week, Florida lost 91–74 to Vanderbilt in the SEC Tournament semifinals, which opened the race for the final No. 1 seed.
If UConn had defeated St. John’s, the Huskies might have had a chance at the top. The Red Storm, on the other hand, will likely get a boost. The Red Storm had struggled to collect signature non-conference wins earlier in the year, falling to teams like Alabama, Iowa State, Auburn, and Kentucky.
However, taking down the Huskies twice this season is no easy task. The road to the national title officially begins on Selection Sunday, when the 2026 NCAA Tournament bracket is revealed.
-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.