The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Huskies host No. 15 Florida on Sunday in Storrs
Huskies hoping for another big win over Florida
STORRS — Dan Hurley was about 55 miles down the road from Gampel Pavilion on Dec. 2, 2013, when Shabazz Napier hit one of the most memorable shots in UConn history.
Hurley was the head coach at Rhode Island, “(hiding) under my desk” during the second year of a massive rebuild with the Rams, when Napier hit a buzzerbeater to beat Florida and send a sellout crowd into euphoria.
But he says he’s seen the shot “125 times,” since UConn uses it as part of its recruiting video on official and unofficial visits. He’d love to see a similar result on
Sunday, when the Huskies (11) host No. 15 Florida at Gampel (3 p.m., ESPN).
He’d also love to see a similar atmosphere at Gampel, which held a mere 4,081 fans for Wednesday’s ugly, 9687 loss to St. Joseph’s.
“We need the fans, man,” Hurley said, following practice on
Friday. “We need their support. Blueblood programs have great crowds every night. To get from where we are right now to back up towards the top of that mountain, we need their help.”
He noted that prospective future UConn players notice when the house is packed — or if
its teeming with empty seats.
“Recruits care about that. One of the things we stress most about is the passion of this fanbase. It’s one of the biggest and best in college basketball. We tell recruits that, they want to see that when the game’s on TV, too. And not just the big ones, like Sunday.”
As of Saturday afternoon, only scattered, single seats remained on sale for the game.
Ironically, Florida (21) entered the Dec. 2, 2013 game ranked No. 15 in the country, as well. The Gators seemingly had a victory until DeAndre Daniels tipped a wild Napier miss back to the senior guard, who knocked down a 15footer as time expired.
Florida didn’t lose another game that season until the Final Four, when, ranked No. 1 in all the land, it lost to — you guessed it — Shabazz & the Huskies once again. UConn finished things off two nights later by beating Kentucky for its fourth national championship.
Fastforward six years later to Wednesday night’s loss to St. Joe’s, in which the Hawks hit 10 of their first 15 3pointers and owned a 27point lead with six minutes left in the first half, and it’s evident how far the Huskies have fallen.
A win on Sunday could quickly pump some enthusiasm back into the program.
“I understood what this (job) was, and what it is — daily. It’s a climb, man,” said Hurley. “We’re not gonna get there overnight. We’ll have moments like that, hopefully, in the near future. Hopefully sooner rather than later. But we’re a long way from that, playing a game at that level. That’s why they hired me here.”
Hurley’s run some tough practices the past few days. The film session of the St. Joe’s game wasn’t pretty for anyone to watch. UConn responded with a strong practice on Friday.
“Coach has been hard on us, but you’ve got to respond,” said junior forward Tyler Polley. “We’ve got to come out Sunday and play the right way. We can’t come out like Wednesday. It’s unacceptable. We’ve got to come out hard on Sunday.”
“I’ve been coaching for a long time,” said Hurley. “The other night wasn’t the first disappointing effort. You do the same things you do. You try to get in and fix things, the actual tactical things, the mindset, the psyche of the team.”
In fact, Wednesday night’s loss may not have been the worst thing heading into Sunday’s game.
“If anything, it probably helps you,” the coach noted. “If we would have played a worse team or had some fool’s gold type of frivolous, comfortable win … (or) if we showed up against Florida with that type of performance, it would have been much more ugly and demoralizing. Performance like that make you a better coach. As a player, they make you zero in on the things that aren’t gonna work. For me, it’s like a wakeup call. There are things that went on in the game that I can’t allow to go on as a coach.”
Things that Hurley promises won’t happen on Sunday afternoon.
“That was trash the other night,” he added. “You’re not gonna see that. I can’t guarantee you any type of an outcome on Sunday, but we will not show up like punks like that.”