Myron MedcalfApr 3, 2026, 01:10 PM ET
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INDIANAPOLIS — Dan Hurley believes the backlash about his on-court behavior is fair.
Just over 24 hours before UConn‘s matchup against Illinois in the Final Four, Hurley said he is not looking for any sympathy regarding the perception of his coaching style.
“I’m not a victim. I’ve done everything. I did what I did,” he said during his pregame news conference Friday. “We don’t allow victims in our program, and I’m not a 53-year-old man sitting up here like I’m some victim. I don’t want to waste a lot of time with it because it takes away from the team. But for me, the way I view what we’re going into, in the game, when some people, again, view it as a game, just my family, how I was raised in the sport, where I’m from in Jersey, we look at it more like a battle.”
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After Braylon Mullins hit the game-winning 3-pointer over Duke on Sunday night, Hurley went forehead-to-forehead with referee Roger Ayers in a bizarre move that could have led to a technical foul at a crucial moment. Hurley said he expected a chest bump from Ayers and was joking about the exchange again Friday.
“I thought it was fitting that they gave me that helmet, the race car helmet. I probably could have used it on Sunday night,” Hurley said about the commemorative racing helmet he received upon landing in Indianapolis this week. “Or that might have been bad.”
Hurley said he expects a “real war” with Illinois, a team UConn defeated 74-61 in Madison Square Garden in November. In that game, projected lottery pick Keaton Wagler played a season-low 14 minutes. Hurley said Wagler has grown since that meeting and “obviously has the ball in his hands a lot more.”
As for his own growth as an emotional leader for his program, Hurley said he doesn’t plan to change.
“My world and the world I think is the best world to live in is the real world, which is interacting with people, putting your phone down,” he said. “I get much more of a bad reaction from people, I think, on social media than when I meet regular people, because any time I meet regular people they look at me and they start laughing or they start smiling, or like, ‘You’re the guy from the video. You look a little crazy, but I think you’re a good egg.'”
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