Hurley’s message to his players: ‘Finish’

UConn is clicking on all cylinders right now.

The Huskies have won three in a row and five of their last six, and are all but assured to be invited to their first NCAA tournament since 2016 a week from Sunday. No way a Dan Hurley-coached team won’t keep the momentum going for its Senior Day game on Saturday against Georgetown (noon, CBS). Right? Well ...

In 2018, Hurley’s final season at Rhode Island, the Rams were riding high entering their Senior Day game against St. Joseph’s, having clinched their first outright Atlantic 10 title in school history the previous game. St. Joe’s was a .500 team in the league, URI was ranked in the Top 25, and it appeared the Rams’ three seniors would go out with a bang in the final game on their home floor.

Then, St. Joe’s rolled to a 30-point victory.

“Our biggest problem that year was we clinched the regular season too soon,” Hurley recalled. “I should have been more involved, not allowed the celebration. (Senior Day) was anticlimactic.”

UConn (13-6, 10-6 Big East) clinched a third-place finish in the league on Wednesday night at Seton Hall and, obviously, the No. 3 seed in next week’s Big East tournament at Madison

Square Garden. The Huskies would appear to be in prime shape to continue to improve their NCAA tournament seeding, and possibly even win a Big East tourney title in their first year back in the league.

Now isn’t the time for any semblance of a repeat of that URI-St. Joe’s game three years ago.

“I learned a lot from that experience,” Hurley added, “but our focus is on the game. We’ll do nostalgia and take a stroll down memory lane after we’ve played our last game this year. We need to have the families here, but I think the lack of crowd will make this more just a game.”

Meanwhile, Georgetown (9-11, 7-8) is also playing its best ball of the season. The Hoyas have won two straight and four of their last five games, including wins over a pair of teams on the NCAA tournament bubble: Seton Hall and Xavier. The Hoyas’ only loss in that span was a 70-57 setback on Feb. 23 to

UConn.

In fact, since coming back from a COVID-19 pause in late January, Georgetown is 6-3, including a road win over No. 14 Creighton.

While Hurley may have entered the conversation for Big East Coach of the Year honors, the same could be

said for Patrick Ewing.

Remember, the Hoyas were picked to finish deadlast in the league’s preseason coaches’ poll. They currently sit in seventh place in the Big East standings, and with some help, could still finish sixth. That could mean a quarterfinal rematch with UConn in the Big East tournament on March 11 at Madison Square Garden.

But first things first. Hurley has had one message to his team in practice since Wednesday.

“Finish. Finish, finish, finish, finish. Finish. I’ve said ‘finish’ the past two days probably 2,000 times, maybe more. This year has meant a lot to everyone involved with the program, the fans, the school, it’s brought a lot of excitement back to the men’s side.”

“So, let’s finish. Finish.”

RIM RATTLINGS

Brendan Adams has been added to the list of players UConn will honor at Senior Day ceremonies on Saturday. Adams is a junior, but will be graduating in May with a degree in Economics.

Adams, who committed to Hurley while Hurley was coaching URI but switched his commitment when Hurley took over at UConn, started six games in the middle of the season but hasn’t played at all in five of the Huskies’ last six games. The only playing time he’s had in that span was three minutes in UConn’s Feb. 23 bout at Georgetown. The 6-foot-4 guard is averaging 4.6 points and 2.2 rebounds per game.

“He’s the hardest worker, and incredible example of everything you want in your program,” Hurley said.

“And even though his role isn’t, right now, what he wants it to be or what it’s been, we’re not in this spot this year without him — in terms of what we’ve built, and how he’s played for us this year.”

Adams will be honored alongside graduating seniors Isaiah Whaley, Tyler Polley and Josh Carlton.

“Those guys have really changed the trajectory of the program the last three years,” Hurley said. “The fact that they wanted to stay, and they knew it was gonna be hard and wasn’t gonna be instant gratification, because of how bad a shape things were, their legacy is cemented with the shape they will potentially lead the program in, if this is their last season.”

Hurley said he’ll wait until after the season to discuss whether any of those players might come back next year for a final season, as the NCAA is allowing for current college players due to the COVID-19 mess.