Hurley rips the referee after a late foul as No. 2 UConn falls to Memphis

UConn coach Dan Hurley criticized the referees for their tardy officiating during the two-time defending champion and second-seeded Huskies’ 99-97 overtime loss to Memphis on Monday in the first round of the Maui Invitational.

Hurley said he was particularly outraged when he fouled UConn forward Liam McNeeley on the back when the game was tied 92-92 with less than a minute remaining in overtime.

Hurley was then assessed a technical foul for his displeasure with the foul call. PJ Carter hit four straight free throws – two for the technical and the other two for the personal foul – to give Memphis a 96-92 lead with 40.3 seconds to play.

“That was a joke. I just looked at it,” Hurley said of the call, adding that Memphis “made no attempt to tune out the play.” “There was a player in Memphis who made a half-hearted attempt to rebound that basketball and Liam McNeeley threw up that rebound and for that decision to be made at that point was a complete joke.”

Hurley continued to share his thoughts on referee Pat Driscoll’s decision.

“How you can call the game that is just beyond me,” Hurley continued. “I’ve never seen that one referee before. I didn’t even know he was a college referee, and then I know the other two, so I’m not surprised.”

Steven Anderson and Scott Brown were the other two referees officiating the game.

The Huskies, whose streak of 17 consecutive wins ended in February, had three players foul out. Memphis attempted 40 free throws and made 29 of them.

Tyrese Hunter scored 17 of his 26 points after halftime and shot 7 of 10 from 3-point range for the Tigers (5-0), who were 12 of 22 from long range as a team. PJ Haggerty had 22 points and five assists, Colby Rogers had 19 points and Dain Dainja scored 14.

Tarris Reed Jr. had 22 points and 11 rebounds off the bench for the Huskies (4-1). Alex Karaban had 19 points and six assists and Jaylin Stewart scored 16.

Memphis led by as many as 13 with about four minutes left in regulation, but UConn fought back and finally tied it on Solo Ball’s 3-pointer with 1.2 seconds left.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.