Mike Krzyzewski reacts to Dan Hurley bumping heads with referee vs. Duke, reveals stance

After UConn‘s Braylon Mullins drained a 3-pointer from 35 feet out to complete the Huskies’ comeback against Duke in the Elite Eight, Dan Hurley inexplicably pressed his forehead against an official’s. The referee, Roger Ayers, was walking toward the monitor to evaluate how much time was left on the clock after Mullins shot went through the basket.

Ayers held Hurley’s stare for a moment before disengaging and continuing toward the scoretable. He didn’t call a technical foul on Hurley. During an appearance on The Pat McAfee Show on Monday, former Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski weighed in on the head-turning moment.

“I’m glad Roger Ayers, the official, handled it right,” Krzyzewski said.

Thousands of Duke fans would disagree. The Blue Devils were ultimately granted 0.4 seconds to attempt to respond to UConn’s last-second shot. The Huskies broke up Duke’s full-court pass and celebrated accordingly.

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If Ayers had called a technical foul on Hurley, Duke would’ve received two free throws and possession. Naturally, this would’ve led to UConn fans claiming Ayers unjustly inserted himself into the game’s outcome.

Additionally, Ayers would’ve been forced to ejected Hurley. According to the NCAA’s men’s basketball rulebook, any individual who “disrespectfully contacts an official or makes a threat of physical intimidation or harm to include pushing, shoving, spitting, or attempting to make physical contact with an official” must be assessed a Class A Technical Foul, ejected and serve a one-game suspension.

It’d be far from the first technical foul Dan Hurley has received in his career, but it certainly would’ve been his most significant. The two-time national champion can’t help but coach with an edge. In fact, he believes that gritty attitude is what led to his team’s 19-point comeback win Sunday.

“It takes strong men. It takes a strong team. It takes a tough team,” Hurley said. “It takes a bunch of players that let us coach them, let us coach them hard. That starts in June. We run a very intense program. We’re on these guys. We stress them in practice.

“We put a lot of pressure on them on a daily basis to do the right things, to do everything at game speed, to do everything hard, to do everything tough, to be prepared because that’s what it takes to win games like this or to stay in a game like that where you’re getting outplayed. You’re having a really bad shooting night at the absolute worst time, but what kicks in at that point is just a bunch of strong men.”