UConn's Dan Hurley Deplores Huskies' Mindset: 'We're Just Not A Tenacious Team'

The UConn Huskies lost to Creighton 68-63 on Saturday at Gampel Pavilion, snapping a 28-game home winning streak for Dan Hurley’s program.
Following the loss, Hurley appeared deeply troubled with the state of his team during the postgame presser.
Perhaps Hurley’s concern stems from the fact that his squad has issues that go beyond basketball schemes and enter into the realms of intensity and toughness, difficult characteristics to instill in young players who aren’t already bringing some of that to the table naturally.
Hurley sounded like he knows that he and his staff have a steep hill to climb in that regard.
“I’m not sure if Liam (McNeeley) when he returns is going to be able to fix the lack of tenacity that we have right now, coaches and players as a program,” Hurley said.
“We’re a shell of ourselves from a defensive standpoint. We’ve only won the rebounding battle twice in Big East games and the bar is so low for us defensively.”
“We’re just not a tenacious team.”
“This team wasn’t responsible for those long winning streaks. It’s the tenacious teams that were elite defensively, elite rebounding teams that played with incredible passion and intensity."
“We’re a good top-20, top-25 team, but this current version of us — the defense and the rebounding — make us nothing like we’ve been.”
“It’s about being a warrior, an incredible competitor.”
“There’s a hunger that you have to have when you take the court. There’s this wild desire that you have to have where you will not be denied, or you’re gonna get over a screen, and you're gonna contest the shot, and you’re gonna track down a loose ball. You’re gonna give a warrior’s effort. That’s not who we’ve been.”
“We haven’t been able to turn these talented, nice guys into fierce, savage competitors.”
Notably, Hurley’s monologue was diametrically opposed to the recent, controversial speech that UCLA’s Mick Cronin made about the lack of toughness in his players, an address that ESPN’s Jay Bilas criticized for Cronin more or less throwing his players under the bus while defending his own coaching.
Hurley’s remarks on Saturday reflected a coach taking full responsibility for the lack of tenacity his team plays with.
With the Big East schedule trucking along, UConn is running out of time to toughen up and play with more urgency. And Hurley’s right — McNeeley’s return will be great from a basketball standpoint, but it won’t fix the Huskies’ greater issues.
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