Dan Hurley let UConn down with a tantrum in overtime

And a guy from Jersey with a short fuse who works the referees the way most elite college basketball coaches do.

Hurley’s mind had been on officiating long before his No. 2 UConn Huskies flew to the Maui Invitational in Hawaii. He told reporters last week that he was well aware that their weaker opponents were finishing more often than they were, despite obvious differences in size and talent.

UConn got an objectively terrible whistle in its opening game Monday against Memphis. But Hurley needs to better contain his anger in situations where the game is close. Because of Hurley’s technical foul in overtime, UConn’s 99-97 loss falls on him.

Let’s set the scene: It’s a massive back-and-forth between the Huskies and Tigers that sent UConn’s solo ball into overtime with a last-second triple in regulation time. The Huskies soon have a three-point lead that is wiped out by Colby Rogers’ 3-pointer, and on UConn’s next trip, Liam McNeeley is called for a behind-the-back foul as he goes for an offensive rebound – not to mention that McNeeley has about five inches on Memphis’ guy.

Hurley angers the nearest officer. His assistant head coach Kimani Young has to take on the role of get-back coach, but Hurley eventually falls to the ground and says just enough to get T’d up. What should have been two Memphis free throws is now four, and PJ Carter sinks them all.

Even though UConn lost by exactly two points, Hurley told CBS Sports that it wasn’t his technique that made the difference.

“I think it was the damn shouts,” he said, adding: “I would expect to play in an event, and I don’t know many back-to-back national championship teams that get that kind of whistle.”

He didn’t slow down at the postgame podium either, saying the Memphis player “made a half-hearted effort to rebound that basketball, and Liam McNeeley climaxed that rebound.”

On falling to the ground: “I don’t know what happened. “Perhaps the absurdity of the call caused me to lose my balance,” Hurley said, “or perhaps I stumbled.”

And here’s the thing: I agree he’s right about the call! Most sensible people on basketball Twitter (or Bluesky) do. But Hurley, of course, left it up to the refs from the jump, certain his blue-blooded Huskies were being treated disrespectfully. There was a technical call on the UConn bench early in the game, although Hurley later said his mild-mannered medical coach “must have said something under his breath in the huddle.” Sure, Jan.

Call me a ball of pearls all you want, but after keeping Hurley on a long leash the entire game, the referees had every right and reason to hassle him late in overtime when he appeared to be yelling obscenities at them.

Nobody I know likes it when bad management takes over a game. By the way, this is by no means unique to college basketball, and I am 100% in favor of holding bad referees and referees more accountable. But I would also have liked a greater sense of responsibility from a coach who will go down in history as one of the greats of the modern era, even if only in retrospect.

If you’re known as the type of person who’s constantly outraged, you might not be taken seriously when something truly egregious goes against you.