CHAOS: UConn’s Dan Hurley Ejection, Big East Title Slips Away —Can Huskies REGROUP for March?

0:00It's the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. Few things are as uplifting as the greatest moments in sports. And nothing brings us together quite like Team USA at the Olympic Winter Games. From NBC Universal's iconic storytelling to the innovative technology across Exfinity and Peacock, Comcast brings the Olympic Games home to America, sharing every moment with millions. When Team USA steps onto the world stage, we're not just watching. We're cheering together. This winter, we're all on the same team, Comcast, proud partner of Team USA. Mmm, one iced coffee. 99 cents please. For real? No way. Mmm. Ah. Mmm. One iced coffee. 99 cents please. For real? No way. Mmm. Ah. What a deal.

1:00Your new morning groove. Ice coffee from McDonald's, any size for just 99 cents to 11 a.m. Pricing participation may vary. Cannot be combined with any other offer. Bada, bada, bada. Dan Hurley, ejected a voice of suspension, but does receive a fine. I'll discuss, plus, what led to the breakdown on Saturday against Marquette? This is Lockdown. You conned. You are locked on, you conned. You're daily, Comcast on the Yukon Huskies. Part of the Lockdown podcast network. Your team, every day. You can listen each and every single day.

2:00On today's show, I will start with Dan Hurley, who became the story yesterday after you being ejected at the end of the Marquette loss and subsequently fine on Saturday night. Then, what went wrong in the game, lackluster performance overall, I'll dive in. And finally, can the Huskies turn what transpired on the road in the season finale into fuel for the post season? But first today's episode is brought to you by Fandall. Fandall is giving a way to turn that energy into even bigger potential wins for the college basketball parlay profit boost head to fandall.com to get started. So Saturday, Yukon falls to Marquette, had an opportunity there to win a share of the Big East Railways season title, bring home a trophy and accomplish one of their key goals that they set all the way back. If you think back to the loss in March to Florida in the second round of the NCAA tournament, from there, everything that this program has done from Dan Hurley on down to all the players to revamp the roster, to improve your game, to come up with a way to be better

3:00defensively. One of the goals that the team had since that time, to check off on the list of things, is obviously a Big East Railways season title. So all that work and effort that went into everything since March of 2025 wasn't front of this team. And heading into this game, I didn't think there was any way, any way that the team was going to fall short. We're going to talk what transpired in the game in the second segment. But I think all of that plays into what transpired at the end of the game with Dan Hurley. But I think there was a level of frustration there that, hey, all this work, all this effort that we've put into over the last 12 months.

4:03And we're on the road against the team that obviously has been not what everybody thought Marquette was going to be this season. Dan played well. They did just go on the road and blow up Providence by 20 plus two games ago. But overall, this team completely underachieved, and I'm talking about Marquette, and everybody looked at, hey, we're going on the road. We're coming back with a share of the Big East Railways season title, and it's going to be right onto Big East tournament and focusing on the next item to check off the list. What trophy are we going after next? And the way the game played out, I think already Dan Hurley being emotional, which is completely fine. But being an emotional individual and wears emotions on his sleeves, I think how the end of the

5:06game played out led to the situation where he kind of lost it on the officials. We'll get into the statistics in the second segment. Let's just talk about the situation, side of the summary there, driving in, trying to tie the game there with, I think there was one second left after Dan Hurley got teed off, so call it with one second left. Was there a bump? Did he get hit? Was there a foul? This also doesn't blow. And then everything that this team has worked for is clearly the first item on the list is not achievable any longer. And I think when you look at the entire situation of this team and coming together and trying to peek at the right time, leading into postseason, I think that's that Dan Hurley off.

6:06And then the whistle maybe didn't go their way. There's another thing and you know Dan Hurley's emotional and we get the situation that transpired. Now, you kind of lucky. My initial take, which I posted on social media right after the game, my instant react video. And watching the game, I wasn't there, of course, but just watching the game, I think I saw two or three replays, a fox showed it two or three times. And then we were right out the door because we got to the hockey's championship. We'll have a separate show to talk about that experience and you've got hockey programs. But the initial instant react that I had was oh, Dan Hurley bumped to the official. And now we're talking not just hey, Dan Hurley was ejected, but now what are the repercussions coming out of that? And I felt there was a chance that he could be suspended for a game or a fact. And clearly the biggest looked into it.

7:08They determined after a number of reviews and probably talking with officials that hey, maybe there wasn't a bump there. They can't officially confirm it. So Dan Hurley just received a fine on Saturday night of $25,000. The official statement from Valak Akerman. So again, this is, this is a bigger situation because it's the last game of the reggae season. And now the Huskies are focused on the post season and with what transpired on Saturday in the game. Coming off of that and having to deal with something else on top of that is a difficult thing. But I'm going to talk through that in the third segment as well. I have got some thoughts on that. The comments from Commissioner Valak Akerman says quote, we hold our coaches to high standards and sportsmen like conduct or a game competition and inappropriate interactions with our officials will not be tolerated. And that was the quote released along with the notification that Hurley was $5,000, $25,000.

8:16So clearly this is not something you want to happen right before post season. It's the most critical time of the year into one and done situations. And I talked about this in the pre game yesterday. I wanted to see a dominant performance because with post season right around the corner and you know how tournament games can play out in a one and done situation when you're playing against teams that maybe haven't had the same season that you've had. But in a one and done situation, especially early on in the tournament, we have teams playing in a situation where maybe they haven't been in the past and they're going up against one of the Goliaths in college basketball. There's going to be extra motivation on a side if you believe in that thing when it comes to sports. Jeff, just on that, I'm not a believer in extra motivation. I think if you're a an athlete and you're a top level athlete, you should be getting

9:23the same performance day in day out regardless. But clearly in certain situations, there is a little extra there. And when you get into the tournament, you could be caught. Of course, that's why there's so many upsets, there's so much intrigue in the NCAA tournament, greatest sporting event that we've got. And I wanted to see you can handle Mark in a way that, hey, let's put the bed, any of the question marks heading into post season that, hey, in a one and done situation, could you come potentially be one of these teams that gets picked off? Let's see a dominant performance. Let's see a situation and use this as an opportunity to receive that. You can will shut out opponents and shut down opponents and close out games early on against inferior competition perceived inferior competition. Now, let's look at this. I mean, we've talked about this on the show as well.

10:24Big east opponents know you can better than the rest of the country. So, and I think Dan Hurley is awesome to talk about this at a few points in time. Maybe this year, maybe in years past, certainly. Opposing coaches, and especially a coach like Shocker Smart, knows Dan Hurley has played Dan Hurley over and over and over and over again over the last handful of years, multiple times, sometimes three times in the season. So there's that familiarity there that leads to probably more competitive games than UConn's going to get out of conference competition. We talked about this on the show, Dan Hurley's talked about it as well. So when I, we're going to talk in the third season, this also leads to some things in the third segment, which we'll talk about that. But just to close out the Dan Hurley topic, I think you kind of got lucky.

11:27You kind of avoid a situation where there was a suspension. So there's no suspension at all. And could it be that this situation can lead to some additional fuel and lead to a refocus of the team and take some of the pressure off the team, the roster of the players that just perform like they did against Marquette and turn the attention from the external voices and noise to Dan Hurley himself. So what we're going to get to that in the third segment, I could that be something that actually helps this team going forward. But on the other side of the break, we're going to just look at the game that transpired yesterday because, like I said, this was an opportunity to check off the box of regular season championship and with that opportunity at hand, did you kind of come out like they should? Did you kind of perform like they should? Did you kind of shoot like they should? What talk about all that after the break?

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13:41quite like team USA at the Olympic Winter Games. From NBC Universal's iconic storytelling to the innovative technology across Exfinity and Peacock, Comcast brings the Olympic Games home to America, sharing every moment with millions. When team USA steps onto the world stage, we're not just watching, we're cheering together. This winter, we're all on the same team, Comcast, proud partner of team USA. There's episodes brought to you by TurboTax. It's tax time, but for a lot of us, the old ways of doing taxes is a lot. Trying to book an appointment that's not the most convenient, sitting in a waiting room with a stack of papers, emailing back and forth and wondering if they really get your situation. But this year you're getting a major upgrade. Into a TurboTax now has in-person locations nationwide. You can meet face to face with a real tax expert, and your documents get uploaded straight to your TurboTax app on the spot. And just like that, you're done. Your TurboTax expert works to get you every dollar you deserve while you get real-time

14:44notifications as you go about your day. It's the relief of walking in and meeting a real person and walking out knowing your taxes are being handled right. Head to TurboTax.com slash local to find a store near you and book your appointment. Again, head to TurboTax.com slash local to find a store near you and book your appointment today. How do you cash back with Chase Freedom Unlimited? Plights, book, bags, packed, kids packed. Cash back on vacation mode, earn 5% cash back on Chase Travel with Chase Freedom Unlimited. Restrictions and limitations apply cards are issued by JPMorgan Chase Bake and a member FDIC. Back in on Lockdown, Yukon, and we are switching from the day in early ejection and post-game to find to the actual game at hand because it was not a great game by any stretch of the imagination. Sixty-eight sixty-two final, sixty-four sixty-two with a second left's

15:46demory there at the line and then obviously the free throws after the situation would down hurly, added some additional points down the stretch. Yukon had the lead thirty-five, thirty-three at the hat and then in the second half, Marquette kind of came in and started to push Yukon around in the second half. And it led to Yukon being down, I think it was an eleven point game at one point in the second half with maybe six, seven, eight minutes left, maybe as little as five. And then finally, I was looking for this the entire game, assertion on the defensive side of the floor because Yukon had not played well and we're giving Marquette open looks from three. Like Royce Parham there had a stretch where I think he hit two or two-three's and then he had that little runner in the lane, he had eight point stretch right in a row there

16:48back, back, back. That really pushed the lead from Marquette off. Yeah, I was just looking at the game and I said this in the instant reaction, I know some of you guys didn't like it, but like my feel of the game, I have a pretty good feel for games. I feel like I didn't think the game was out of reach, I didn't think Yukon was completely out of the game and any stretch of the imagination and any stretch, even down eleven, I just felt like hey if Yukon just asserts themselves defensively, they're going to come back and they can't come back and they did come back. So they slowly chipped the game away, got it down to that two points and then Yukon was out of time out so they couldn't get a play set up, he handed the ball to Demory, he got the ball, it was by on half-core where I think it was like six and change left. So he really didn't have, and Hurley didn't have much time to really even slow it down

17:53and half-core, even without timeouts to slow it down and run something. It was more hey off the cuff, hey we really got to, because we don't have any timeouts, because there's not much time here, we got to push it, take the ball to the basket drive, maybe you got to whistle, maybe you don't, but at least you're getting a layup opportunity there or trying to in the lane, and it just didn't go. So Husky's fell, Dan Hurley loses his cool, free throws get added in, six point loss for Yukon. Now statistics wise, 13% from three, three of 24 overall. Solo ball made two three, two three, he was two of seven again. Nobody else outside of Braille and Mullins made a three, and Braille and went one of ten

18:54from three point range, as the Husky shot three of 24 from three. Alex Caribin played the entire 40 minutes, two points, 0 of six from the field, 0 of five from three, had eight rebounds, but also had three, the three turnovers. Not a great game for me, Braille and Mullins had nine points, it was four or fifteen from the field, I just mentioned he was one of ten from three, he also had two turnovers. Solo ball, he was two of seven from three, he went two of ten overall from the field, so he was three from two. It was just a very difficult rough shooting day for the starters. Terrace Reed was efficient, seven to ten, sixteen points, ten rebounds, had a double, double.

19:55He started the game, he was, he was hot early. Look at the first time out, he maybe had six and four already. So Terrace Reed had the hot hint, however, he only played 29 minutes because he had four fouls, so he was in a bit of foul trouble throughout the game. Bench wise, you got really cut down on that rotation. Jaden Ross had 22 minutes, Eric Rabin had 11 because Terrace Reed was in foul trouble, and then Malke Smith only played two minutes, so all of a sudden it's back to maybe we're not really trusting our bench as much. Now, Rabin's going to get time. Jaden Ross did play 22 minutes, but Malke Smith only got the two, Jalen Stewart was not there. He's still dealing with the injury. I think the media saying he was on crutches during pre-game preview interviews on campus

21:00on Thursday, I think maybe that situation, I don't know what transpiring there, so maybe we'll get more information, maybe we won't. But the bench, Jaden Ross, six points, two and four from the field, seven rebounds. I liked his performance yesterday. Eric Rabin, 11 minutes, four points, like I said, I think they're situations where he was battling for rebounds, I don't know if he really, when he was up against it, was able to get a ton of rebounds over those 11 minutes. I know he only finished with three, but every time it was a tip, tip, tip, and sometimes Marquette was getting bored, doesn't Yukon did out rebound them though, 40 to 25. So if you think back to what are the keys for this team, rebounding was huge, and Yukon out rebounded Marquette, 40 to 25.

22:01Silas had four turnovers. We talked about caravans three. Yukon turned it over 16 times, I know Hurley wants what, 11 on average, or say, maybe it's eight. I don't know, maybe Hurley, I think it was eight actually, sorry, so excuse me, it's not 11. So they had double what they expect from a turnover standpoint. That didn't help. And then you add on the shooting, 36% overall, 13% from three, it's just led to a situation where you were behind the April. You had to come back when they had to have it, they did, but it just wasn't enough. It just wasn't enough. I thought the three that they were down, I think they were down four in the last minute. To get in the lane, the Emory has a chance for a layup, kicks it out to the corner, it comes up to Caribbean for the three in and out. Yukon did get the offense rebound, put back. I thought that three was going, and I thought that was going to be the start, Caribbean finally

23:03getting a shot or two there down the stretch, but it just, it wasn't his night. He played off 40, didn't hit a bucket all game. I think that's the worst, the worst you're going to see Alice Caribbean play on the offensive side of the floor. It just didn't go. It was just wasn't his night. So the story of the game was turnovers and shooting, and I'm surprised that they didn't try to get it more on the block, but it's because of the foul trouble. So the whistle wasn't really there, fouls were 20 to 17, you kind of called for 20 fouls. Marquette had 23 free throws, Yukon had 18, you got shot the ball, extremely well at the line. 17 and 18 from the line, 94%, despite Marquette having more opportunities, Yukon made three more free throws than Marquette. So the disparity there and the whistle, hey, maybe it wasn't as one sided as maybe in

24:04some of the games we've played previously, but I know there was the frustration from Dan Hurley because hey, offensively, they weren't cutting it. Rebounding they did, but defensively Marquette shot 48%, you can't allow a team to shoot 48% and 38% from three. And you can let Royce Parham go off for eight point stretch that almost put the game out of reach. And then Chase Ross, Chase Ross is an experienced player, hit a three in the corner as part of that run to get Marquette up. But again, then you come came back, like Stevens tried to force a few, James tried to force a few down the stretch, their shots started to not fall any longer as Yukon's pressure picked up. And maybe Marquette's legs came, started to go away a bit, but Yukon wasn't able to put the game away. So they fell and led to the frustration there from Dan Hurley that led to the situation

25:10we just talked about. So that's the recap. That's what transpired. It was shooting. It was defense. It was turnovers. Three of the things didn't go their way, Husky did out rebound Marquette, so I did like to see Terrace Reed despite the foul trouble. Being aggressive on the glass, he took care of his business, Jane Ross had seven rebounds, he cared about had eight as well. Husky's what good on the glass when the most part. But it was that defense and the turnovers and the shooting, which Yukon has not shot like this all season, which leads me to the final segment looking ahead to tournament time. Can this performance be fuel for the Huskies going forward? Workplace chaos deadline stacking up inbox overflowing in the one possession you have positioned. You have to feel still sitting open when the pressure is on and you need the right

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29:13UConn ad free with every day or club, plus members only discord access, join at Lockdown UConn. That's supercast.com. So here for the final third and final segment here on this Sunday edition of Lockdown UConn, and we are jumping ahead and looking ahead to Big East tournament. And can what transpired out at Marquette lead to additional fuel for the Huskies? We talked in the first segment that, hey, maybe this could be a distraction for the team externally, that, hey, Dan Ho is taking the pressure off this group, putting it on himself that, hey, this goal that was in front of him, that everybody thought they were going to get heading to Marquette, Big East, regular season trophy, then yours truly thought it was given. Everything's not a given in sports, any given night, any team can win. That's what we love about this game, and especially true when it gets to the NCAA tournament. So in this situation, when we get to Big East tournament, when we get to NCAA tournament,

30:15when they use this as fuel to move forward and achieve some of the goals that are still on this table, I think yes, I think yes, and I think Dan Hurley, and we look back at this. Maybe not in the moment we're thinking about this, but my take on this, it takes pressure off the players to go into a situation where you're now focused on the one and done situation where this team is still, despite, I seem to come some comments out there like, oh, the season's lost. The season is not lost. This team won 27 and 4, guys, all right, that's first and foremost. This team is 27 and 4. Have they not played up to their full potential at times? Yes. Was there a stretch there, a long stretch from January and February where this team didn't play up to their full potential? Yes. What's Yukon's top end? Their top end is tops in the nation, guys. You saw it at Villanova. You certainly saw it against St. John's.

31:17So this team has winfully on full cylinders. The capability to perform at the tops of college basketball. And that leads to goals still being on the table, being absolutely achievable. And I think the way the game played out, their frustration level at this Alice Karen, we just talked about his performance, right, 40 minutes and zero points. You think he wants to go out in his college career with that type of performance? No way, no how. So I think a complete reset and revamped energy and mindset heading into tournament time is going to be there. No doubt about it. Listen, we've seen runs from Yukon in the past where, hey, regular seasons didn't go as some people thought, and you guys have been able to turn the page as you had to tournament time and really put things together and lead to tournament runs. Just look at what happened with Kemba in those years, right?

32:23So the goals are not off the table. So I saw some of that sentiment on social media, all the teams falling apart, oh, they're unhinged. No, stop. Deepest team in college basketball and depth, especially in one and done settings, leads to situations where Yukon could come out on top and raise some trophies. No doubt about it. Got still one of the top teams in the nation, and I don't think yesterday's performance changes things. Yes, there was an opportunity in front of them that they let slip away, but the goals are still there. And I think the team and knowing this team and seeing this team operate over the years, staff and the leaders on this team are not going to let what transpired on Saturday bleed into tournament time. There's going to be a rip of the bandaid. There's going to be a complete reset like we saw after the Crate and Loss, and there's going to be a complete focus on playing to their true potential come tournament time.

33:26And I think what happened, and especially because Dan Hurley avoided this suspension, he only got the $25,000 fine. I think that takes some of the pressure off the team to just focus on what they need to focus on. And a lot of it is, hey, shots are going to fall. There's no doubt. I will tell you this, there will not be a repeat performance where Alex Caravans does not make a shot. There's not going to be a repeat performance where Berlin Mullins goes one of 10 from three. That's not going to transpire. Mullins makes one of those threes, three points swing. You come is down to there. One second left. Caravan makes a three. He had an open three on the wing, right, and down and out. Three points swing. You come is down to and what's, it doesn't matter, hey, you just got to have more points at the end of the day than the opponent, right? And you kind of defensively, we know what the top tier is, they can shut teams down.

34:26You can rebound in Marquette by 15 yesterday. So there's some positives there. And I think I, I just see that this team going forward is going to be able to turn the page. I think externally there's going to be a lot of talk about Dan Hurley this, Dan Hurley that, let him talk. We've got to coach the staff here that's been there, done that. Notice how to take care of business. Notice how to win and is going to be able to turn the page, no ifs answer about it. So yeah, $25,000 fine. They avoided a suspension. Hurley will be on the sidelines on Thursday. So that's just my take. I think there's fuel for the fire, there's fuel for the biggest tournament, I think they'll be added fuel for the NCAA tournament. So as we head out of this weekend and start this week is Big East tournament week, we will

35:27be talking this tournament. Of course, we'll go through the bracket, probably on Monday, we'll go through the men's bracket. We've obviously got the, the women's Big East tournament in full swing hockey. We've got to talk about yesterday's hockey as well. But for this episode, thanks for tuning in today's episode of Locked On You Kind, please make sure you subscribe and follow at Locked On You Kind on all social media. So you get all the latest episodes. If you never miss an episode, the everydayer club is built for you. Get Locked On You Kind, add free, plus members only discord access and more, head to Locked On You Kind at supercast.com to join the club again, Locked On You Kind, that's supercast.com to join the club. I'll be back later today, so keep an eye out for that. We'll talk women's basketball, Big East tournament, semis are today, and we'll also recap women's basketball, the hockey's championship, we'll talk men's hockey as well. Until then, see ya! Come with me, let me take you on a holiday, come with me, yeah, yeah.

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37:34Mmm. Mmm, one ice coffee, 99 cents please. For real? No way. Mmm. What a deal. Your new morning groove, ice coffee from McDonald's, any size for just 99 cents to 11 a.m. Pricing participation may vary, cannot be combined with any other offer.