UConn men face a stiff test tonight
— Sounds of a birthday celebration could be heard from the UConn basketball locker room after Tuesday's practice at the Werth Center.
The Huskies sang Happy Birthday to head coach Dan Hurley, who turned 51, and devoured cupcakes specially made for the occasion by Hurley's wife Andrea.
“I got a soft cone, chocolate cake, vanilla frosting and blue and white sprinkles,” Hurley said of his cupcake choice.
What would be a great gift for Hurley is a win over No. 18 Creighton (13-4, 4-2) in Big East action today at Gampel Pavilion. Game time is 7 p.m.
It is UConn's first game since rising to the No. 1 spot on Monday.
Last year, Hurley was miserable on his birthday, which came the day after losing at home to St. John's. He contracted COVID that week and missed the next game at Seton Hall, another loss.
“Probably the two low points for me here, (a 2022 NCAA tournament first round loss) to New Mexico State in Buffalo and that week of St. John's and Seton Hall,” Hurley said. “That was complete rock bottom type of stuff.
“You find out a lot about yourself in adversity.”
UConn (15-2, 5-1) has avoided repeating the sort of losing streak that happened last January when it dropped four of five to start the month.
The Huskies are riding a five-game winning streak despite playing without starting center Donovan Clingan (foot), who has a chance to return to action against the Bluejays.
Their recent successful stretch has even surprised Hurley a bit.
“The confidence from last year certainly has helped,” Hurley said. “Just all the things that we have in place. To do what we've done without Donovan, I'm incredibly impressed by the organization here.
“To lose everything that we lost from last year's team and then to only go in the portal for one guy and then to basically do this with a lot of freshmen running around, it's been very impressive and surprising on some level. What these guys have done has been really special.”