UConn's Dan Hurley Sets One Non-Negotiable for Season
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Conference play tends to strip teams down to their habits, and for the UConn Huskies, that reckoning arrived immediately. The Huskies are sitting at an 11–1 overall record, and their last win was the opening of their conference play schedule.
The Huskies faced Butler, their first Big East opponent of the season, and the game ended in a 79–60 win for UConn. The Huskies look primed to make a deep run in March this season. However, Dan Hurley made it clear that if the Huskies don’t fix one issue, the chances might just go down.
As Hurley puts it, “Rebounding is effort. Rebounding the ball, transition offense, transition defense, those are things you have to do every single time, and you don’t always get a payout on it. You’ve got to crash the glass every single possession, even though you may get a rebound only 15 percent of the time. You’ve got to sprint the court in transition even though you may only get an opportunity to make a play 20 percent of the time.”
The Huskies controlled the glass 47–29, including 15 offensive rebounds that led to an 18–13 edge in second-chance points. Butler entered the night averaging over 90 points per game, but rarely found rhythm after the opening minutes because UConn consistently ended possessions.
As Hurley rightly put it, UConn didn’t dominate because one player dominated the boards; it was a collective effort. Jayden Ross led the way with eight rebounds in 25 minutes off the bench; meanwhile, Eric Reibe added seven while protecting the rim.
Silas Demary Jr. came in six, and Tarris Reed Jr., Alex Karaban and Solo Ball each grabbed five. That spread-out rebounding is why Butler never recovered after UConn seized control midway through the first half.
This wasn’t an isolated game, but it also wasn’t the norm every night.
Perhaps that’s why Hurley went on to add, “Those are just relentless activity things. And again, this is supposed to be a team this year that gives absolutely everything they have in pursuit of a championship, and you can’t do that unless you are a relentless rebounding team.”
Through 12 games, UConn is averaging 36.3 rebounds per contest, holding a +5.2 margin over opponents. Yet the season’s extremes explain Hurley’s urgency. The Huskies have had good rebounding nights, such as the +24 margin against UMass Lowell or the +15 against Bryant.
Meanwhile, there have also been moments, such as the Arizona game, where the Huskies were outworked on the boards by 20. The Florida game saw the Gators have a +12 edge. Even Texas held its own inside. Those swings are exactly what keep Hurley restless.
Hurley’s point is simply that rebounding doesn’t guarantee points, but failing at it guarantees problems. Against Butler, UConn turned missed shots into put-backs, closed possessions with physicality, and buried any momentum Butler tried to build.
The 46–26 edge in points in the paint and the consistent second-chance pressure told the real story. However, rebounding is not the only issue the Huskies have faced this season.
Foul Trouble Also Continues for Dan Hurley’s Squad
Foul trouble has been a consistent issue for the Huskies this season. It surfaced again in the Butler win, where UConn finished with 21 personal fouls. The Bulldogs lived at the line all night, going 19-of-24, and it echoed a theme Hurley has already flagged as dangerous.
That concern boiled over a game earlier against Texas. Despite shooting efficiently and controlling stretches of play, UConn allowed the Longhorns to hang around because of “undisciplined fouling.”
As Hurley put it after the Texas match, “We’ve got some undisciplined fouling going on. Putting them at the line as much as we did kept them in it.”
At one point in the second half, the foul count sat at 10–2. Texas finished 19-of-28 at the line, compared to UConn’s 7-of-13. Even in the win, Hurley viewed it as a warning, the kind that championship teams address early or pay for later.
The challenge for UConn now is consistency. The Huskies will have to bring the same edge every night, without gifting opponents free points. And as the Big East play unfolds, that margin may decide just how far this team can go.
-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.