BY ALEJANDRO LOPEZ
As the defending back-to-back champions, Dan Hurley and UConn had a little bit more riding on this NCAA Tournament heading in. So their elimination at the hands of Florida meant a little bit more than it usually would have.
“I thought we played with tremendous honor, I thought we played with the heart of a championship program and a program that’s gone back-to-back,” an emotional Hurley said after Florida defeated UConn 77-75. “For a team to defend what we really wanted to do they were going to have to put us down and obviously a worthy opponent like that there’s honor in the way we went out.”
The Huskies entered this game winning their last 13 NCAA Tournament games, one of the longest streaks in modern college basketball history.
“I just love them, I mean I just love them,” Hurley said about his team. “This year has been a real battle and we’ve had to battle and battle and battle and there were times I don’t think we liked each other a whole lot with some of the things we had to go through together but I don’t think I’ll ever love a team more than how hard they fought for what we were trying to accomplish and the honor they played with tonight.”
“I don’t think I’ll ever love a team more”
Dan Hurley loves the way his @UConnMBB team battled today.#MarchMadness pic.twitter.com/auOZtPOAZe
— NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessMBB) March 23, 2025
The heavy emotions spread from the head coach down to the players for UConn as Alex Karaban detailed the opportunities they missed during their close contest against Florida.
“It’s super frustrating, they were giving us gifts, they were missing free throws and we just didn’t capitalize on those opportunities,” Karaban said postgame. “You know if we grab those rebounds who knows what would’ve happened but that’s not the thought right now, we just missed out on those opportunities.”
Alex Karaban teared up talking about UConn’s missed opportunities against Florida
#MarchMadness pic.twitter.com/FfeunrKNRl
— NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessMBB) March 23, 2025
UConn was the last of the five BIG EAST teams to qualify for the tournament still playing leaving the conference out of the tournament in its first weekend.
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