Dan Hurley fell. So did UConn.
Hurley, the often-fiery coach of the two-time defending national champions, was livid over an over-the-back call in the final minute of overtime in what became No. 2 UConn’s 99-97 loss to Memphis on Monday in the opening round of the Maui Invitational.
The foul was called on UConn’s Liam McNeeley on an offensive rebound in what was a tie game with 40.3 seconds remaining. Hurley dropped to his knees and got a technical foul, and Memphis’ PJ Carter made all four free throws — two for the personal, two for the technical — to put the Tigers ahead for good.
With that, UConn’s 17-game winning streak dating back to last season was over. The fireworks were not.
“I had a lot of issues with what went on out there in the game,” Hurley said. “That over-the-back call at that point of the game, there was no attempt to block out. There was a player on Memphis that made a half-assed effort to rebound that basketball and Liam McNeely high-pointed that rebound. For that call to be made at that point of the game was a complete joke.”
Hurley then offered an explanation for his falling-to-the-floor move.
“I don’t know what happened. I might have lost my balance by the absurdity of the call, or maybe I tripped,” Hurley said. “But if I made that call at that point, I would have ignored the fact that I was on my back. If I made that call, I would have ignored that. I would have ignored that. That was a major, obviously, a major … how you could call that while that game was going on, the way that game was going on is just beyond me.”
Hurley added that he didn’t know one of the officials was a college ref and indicated displeasure with the other two on the game as well.
“I’ve never seen the one ref before. I didn’t even know he was a college ref,” Hurley said. “And I’m familiar with the other two, so I’m not surprised.”
His technical was one of two that sent Memphis to the line for free throws in the game; the other was about 4 minutes into the game when a team trainer apparently said something that referees heard and didn’t like.
“It got off to a bad start when my medical trainer, who must have said something under his breath in a huddle, gets T’d up in the huddle in the first couple minutes or whatever that was in the game,” Hurley said. “A trainer who’s just the nicest guy, very quiet guy. Might have muttered something under his breath in a normal situation.”
And a third technical — Samson Johnson was whistled as part of a double-technical, but it was his fifth foul and forced him from the game midway through overtime — was costly as well.
“Samson was getting shoved. His jersey was ripped. He didn’t get a foul called for him the entire game,” Hurley said. “He ended the game with his jersey ripped down the center, but they get him on every call. He’s frustrated. That was crazy, man. Crazy.”
For his part, Memphis coach Penny Hardaway — who did get a handshake and warm embrace from Hurley after the game — called it the biggest win of his coaching career.
“That was back-to-back national champions, undefeated, first round of the Maui tournament,” Hardaway said. “When we first got picked to play them, I was like, ‘OK, starting off with a bang.’ I just got our team prepared. I used it as motivation.”
Add it all up, and UConn lost for the first time since a loss to Creighton on Feb. 20. Memphis led most of the game Monday and UConn rallied from 13 points down in the final 4 minutes of regulation, but the Tigers got 40 free throws to the Huskies’ 24.
“We knew it was going to be a physical game,” UConn’s Alex Karaban said. “That was the game plan. We knew they wanted to make it physical. It wasn’t surprising us that it was physical, we just had to match their toughness, and for most of the game we didn’t. That’s just on us.”
Reporting by The Associated Press.
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