Everything UConn Basketball HC Dan Hurley said Illinois Postgame
UConn Basketball Head Coach Dan Hurley met with the media following his program’s 71-62 win over the Illinois Fighting Illini on Saturday night in the 2026 NCAA Tournament Final Four.
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UConn Basketball HC Dan Hurley Transcript
We’ll ask coach Hurley to make an opening statement, then we’ll begin with questions for the student-athletes only.
But coach, please. Yeah, just obviously thrilled. There’s no better feeling than being on that bus on Monday night, just being one of the last two teams standing.
That bus ride to, you know, to the stadium is just, it’s just a cool experience. So I look forward to, obviously, the ability to max out the season to get to the last game. And then just Illinois, you know, couldn’t have more respect for them and their coach and, you know, and their awesome players.
And, you know, like we’re very selective with who we try to play in non-conference situations, whether they’re home-and-homes or the series that we’re now doing with Illinois. You know, we only try to do series with the best programs in the country, so they’ll obviously have another crack at us in Chicago next year. But, yeah, I just couldn’t be more proud of my guys and, you know, how hard they fought when most people, you know, probably didn’t think we were gonna win the game, or at least a little bit of what I saw on TV today.
You know, TNT and some of the different prognostications. So it was great to win the game, and I had to throw some shade. If you have questions for Silas, Braylon, or Tarris, please raise your hand.
We’re gonna take questions for them first. Robbie, is that you? Robbie Lestella, Bracketeer.org. My question’s for Braylon. You guys came out of the gates.
Both you and Tarris seem to have the sense of feeling early. Was that any continuation from your shot in D.C., or was it just kind of coming out of the gates strong? Yeah, I think it was just kind of the flow of the game, but I know coming into the game I needed to shoot it with confidence just coming off last Sunday. Just have that flow, that momentum.
And so, yeah, I mean, seeing the first two go in, it just boosts all the confidence for you to keep shooting. So I think it just happened within the game. Staying up front and center, Zach.
Zach, Brazilian Europost. Tarris, there were obviously points in the season when your free-throw shooting, I’m sure, you were disappointed in. You had two big ones with 2.46 left, and then think of maybe 30 seconds left, you ran to the ball to get it to shoot.
I mean, what do you think, what has changed with you at the line, and what’s your confidence like at the line? Yeah, just putting the work in, trusting all the work I put in. And yeah, it was 30 seconds left, I looked at coach, gave him a nod, like, yo, coach, let me catch the ball, let him foul me, I’m gonna knock these two down. So I felt like just trusting the work I put in, trusting the guys around me, and like I said, buying into the system.
We’ll go to the left side of the room, Dana, right side of the aisle. Dana O’Neal with CNN Sports. Silas, you had a huge, I’m over here, huge offensive rebound, kicked it back out to Braylon for that three, and you’re playing, I know, on a better angle, but not a great angle.
How, what has been your mentality in that moment and in this entire tournament to be able to kind of make that kind of an effort play, and that’s all that is, is sheer effort, right? Yeah, it’s definitely nothing but sheer effort. Just to get that rebound, it was a big time play in the game, I think it was probably a minute and some change to go, just to get that rebound. It’s like, coach was saying the whole game, we got to be the first one to the ball, like, we got to make those big time effort plays, those 50-50 plays.
So, just knowing that being on a bum ankle, but still being able to give it my all and leave everything out there for my teammates, you know, just making sure I’m not shorting them. It’s a great feeling, and you know, I’m just glad to be able to be playing another game on Monday. Next question for the UConn student-athletes on the left, up front, Dom.
Dom, I’m Murray Hartford-Current. Silas, as the games have gone on and you’ve gotten deeper into tournament, it seems like you guys have made fewer and fewer mistakes each time, right? Hardly any turnovers today, free throws not an issue, etc. In your first year here, that’s kind of the way it was the other times, too.
What have you learned about UConn? How does that happen? How are you guys playing more and more solid, fundamentally, as the pressure gets higher and higher? I just think that’s just a testament to the coaches, just giving us confidence and setting a game plan for us to follow, and I think us just going out there being confident and the decisions we’re making, the shots we’re taking, and then I think when it’s winning time, we try to connect as much as possible and have each other’s back throughout the whole time. I think even when they had that run, like, late in the second half, we taught ourselves we were fine, let’s just respond, and I think we were able to do that. Going up front, on the right side.
Matt Demick, Daily Campus Terrace. You knew how good of a rebounding team Illinois was coming into this one. Only minus eight on the total glass, minus two on the O glass.
Does that, is that a win for you guys? Are you happy with those numbers? I wouldn’t say so. I mean, knowing that first half we were down, losing the rebound in battle by four, so I feel like they’re such a good offensive rebounding team. Being able, like I said, locking on that side, being able to put pressure on the offensive glass, put pressure on the defensive glass, so I feel like we could be better, but like I said, we escaped with the win today, so we’re blessed and thankful for that.
Continue with questions for Braylon Terrace or Silas. On the right side, left of the aisle, Nancy. Nancy, I’m with USA Today Sports.
For any of you guys, you didn’t have any turnovers in the first half, and I think it was the first, like, four plus minutes of the second half before you had your first one, finished with four, I think it was. How do you do that on a game this big and against a team that’s as physical as Illinois is? I think we just, just our decision-making, you know, being confident in what move we’re going to do, if we’re going to take a shot, take a shot, not getting caught in between, and I think more so Aaron on this side of, we screen for one another and we set a good, we’re going to screen for one another, you know, we know we can get to our spots and hit our shots, and then, you know, just being smart with the ball. I think if the pass is not there, rather get a shot on the rim and try to offensive rebound rather than just getting a live ball turnover.
Staying up front on the right with Adam. Hey guys, Adam Zagoria from Forbes. With Alex Caravan, I think he would probably agree that wasn’t his best game ever, but this guy’s on the brink with one more win of winning three championships in four years.
He would be the only player not from UCLA to do that. What can you say about what Alex has kind of meant to the team, and what would you expect from him on Monday? Nah, AK, I think AK, he just holds the standard with this program, and I mean that’s the guy you look up to on the court. He’s been through it twice, and just knowing that he has been through it twice, you can use him as an outlet.
And I mean, to make history with Monday, for him, I think that’s what we’re all trying to accomplish, and I mean it’d be so special for him. In the front, on the left side. I’m sorry, no, we’re gonna go to the yellow microphone.
We had a question in before you, sir. No, let’s turn around. Let’s give it to, yep, right there.
Perfect, perfect, great job. Jake Fenner, Daily Mail. I have a question for Braylon.
You started off in the first half shooting 50 percent. Second half, you shot one for six. What is it to keep you determined in the middle of a shooting slump to hit such a clutch shot in that moment that essentially iced the game? Yeah, I mean, I think just coming in the second half, just had to get the momentum from the first half, and just, you always gotta shoot with confidence, and the set is gonna be ran for anybody on the team.
It’s just, you gotta shoot it with confidence. So, I mean, just trying to find the best look on the floor, and I know our point guards are gonna get us the ball. So, I mean, I think that was the biggest shot I hit tonight.
We want to thank and congratulate Silas, Braylon, and Terrace. They’re gonna head back to the locker room, which is still open. They’re also gonna join us tomorrow for some more media availability.
We begin with our first question for Coach Hurley on campus, up front. Yellow microphone. Hi, Sam I know you.
Dad’s the goat. Grandfather’s the goat. Yes.
So, this is your 18th win this season, when holding your opponent under 40% shooting. Just talk about the defense throughout the course of the season, especially compared to the defensive woes last year. Yeah, listen, I think we spent a majority of the year as a top-five defense, and, you know, just the life-and-death nature of this tournament, I think, has created the urgency, and I thought the, kind of, the best thing that we did was get into them in the full court and get into them a little bit more in the half court and move some of those, you know, two-man actions a little bit further away and, you know, put them under, you know, a little bit, you know, more duress, but, you know, obviously to hold them at 33% from the field, three assists, eight turnovers in the game.
We won a lot of one-on-one battles, not all, but, yeah, our defense sustained this. You know, we end up, I mean, we had so many opportunities. I mean, we could have made 18 threes.
I mean, we had twos at the rim. I mean, you know, we could have played better offensively and finished plays more, but great ball security and the defense was elite. On the left side of the room, coach, Dana.
Dana O’Neal, CNN Sports. Dan, kind of what I asked Silas, when you have, in a rock fight like this, when you need every little play counts, how much does it help not only having guys that are capable of getting a rebound on a bad angle, but understand how critically important that kind of a play is? Yeah, I mean, we knew what it was. I mean, you’re coming into the game as an underdog versus a team that you beat by 13 points earlier in the season, you know, which was, you know, kind of surprising, you know, that that’s how we kind of came into the game, and obviously I’ve been waiting to say that, and now I forgot your question.
Go back to Dana’s mic, it’s the black thing. Just sitting on that, though. I’m glad I got it out of your system.
Thank you, just in case no one asked. That’s okay. My question was with Silas’s rebound, about having the ability to have players who recognize the importance of such small plays, not just being able to do them.
Yeah, I just thought players like, you know, like Silas, just what he’s done for our basketball team, the mentality, I mean, it was everything we were lacking last year. Just a guard like him, ball hawk, incredible toughness on the backboard, you know, made Wagler work for it, you know, made Boswell, I mean, you know, just his on-ball defense, and he’s a shell of himself offensively. I mean, he is really, you know, gutting it out, and the courage that he has showed, I think, has been inspiring for the group.
The guys like Jaden Ross, too, just the defense that he’s able to play on the perimeter, I thought that that’s obviously, those were game-changers. Up front, for Zach. Zach, Brazilian New York Host, Dan, with Tarras, you know, he’s had games, obviously, where he’s been incredible during the season, you know, saw it when you guys beat St. John’s, but the consistency that you’ve seen in these five, and then he’s making free throws, like, what do you point to of why he, all of a sudden, now, it’s every game he’s bringing it? Yeah, I just think, you know, these players, they have careers, and you just, it’s why you kind of never give up on a player, you know, you stick with a player, you stick with a player because of the characteristics that he has.
Obviously, he’s got enormous talent, but he’s a man of great character, he’s a man of great faith, he’s got great work habits, you know, he’s a very humble person, he’s just a great, great young man, so we’ve all just been waiting for this from him, and this version of him, which, this version of him is one of the best players in this tournament, one of the best players left in this tournament, he’s played as well as anyone has played in this tournament, and it’s all we’ve ever wanted for him. Hasn’t been, you know, been an easy process, you know, and to get him there, you know, but he’s there now, and hopefully this is the player he is for the rest of his basketball life. Third row, center.
You have a, Adi Joseph, CBS Sports, you have a team that averages 15 assists a game, you have four playmakers on that Illinois team, you hold them to three assists, is that some sort of coaching strategy that you were deploying about preventing extra passes, or was that just the nature of them missing a lot of threes? I think a lot of that has to do with how we guard, and again, you know, like we both could have made more shots, we’ll both go back and look at the game, you know, and see the missed opportunities, you know, but for us it’s very important for our players in one-on-one situations to be able to hold up on an island, like a cornerback, you know, in football that plays a lot of man coverage, because we do want to try to, you know, take the three-point line away from, you know, players like Davis, you know, in this game, try to limit Wagler to the tough contested off the dribble ones, you know, Ben is an excellent three-point shooter. We were willing to live with Merkovich and Isovich, like kind of stunt them, you know, because they were, you know, 30% free-throw shooters, so we picked our poison with some of the guys that we were willing, you know, to let shoot the three. On the right side, toward the back.
Coach, Justin Williams from The Athletic. Late in the game, it was kind of the opposite of the Duke game, where they’re closing the gap. What was your message in the huddle to kind of keep your guys composure? I mean, we were, I thought we were just getting great shots.
I mean, we were getting great shots the whole way through, and that’s not easy. You know, I thought we were able to execute to get good looks all over the court. You know, like we had a great process, you know, the way we were going about, you know, our offensive execution, the efforts we were making defensively.
You know, I just thought we had a great process and we were going about things the right way, so you just, you know, when you’re doing that as a team and you’re just not making the shots, you just, you know, hey listen, if we get stops and rebound the ball and don’t turn it over, we’re gonna keep getting great shots and, you know, we’re due to make a couple. And we’ve been in games like this the whole year, you know. The year hasn’t been a joyride.
We haven’t been a machine of destruction. We’ve been a team that’s had to kind of grind out games like this, so we’re comfortable in a possession game like that. Final question up front, we’ll wrap up on campus.
Brady Levinson, UCTV. On a similar note, Dan, you talked yesterday about how this team is like the 2023 team resilience-wise, and obviously down the stretch you get in foul trouble and the gaps closing. What was it about that time period and the resilience of this team that allowed you guys to hold on in the end? Yeah, we’re a tough program, you know.
We’re a tough program. We’re a group of fighters, you know. It’s not appealing to everyone.
I’m sure there’s some people in here, you know, that it’s off-putting for, you know. But we are a group of fighters. We’re incredibly tough.
We’ve got credible will and we go into these games, we’re ready for battle. Again, for us it’s not, you know, a game that we’re just kind of running around in uniforms, throwing the ball around, hoping it goes in. That’s not what we’re doing out there, you know.
We’re fighting. It’s a life-and-death struggle for us to get to Monday night, for the opportunity to win a championship, and then just to be able to prolong this season with each other and to make the people of Connecticut proud, to make the University proud, and all the former great players. And I mentioned Coach Calhoun and Kevin Olley and just Rip Hamilton’s here, Khalid El-Amin, Kevin Freeman.
I know you got a bunch of the former players here. So it just means everything for us to show up as warriors for our battles and wars that we do in sports. We want to thank Coach Hurley and congratulations.
We’ll see you back here again tomorrow, Coach.
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