UConn head coach Dan Hurley made blatant contact with an official following the Huskies' epic Elite Eight win over Duke on Sunday night.
The two-time national title-winning head coach went face to face with an official from the Elite Eight game in Washington, D.C. Seconds earlier, UConn had rallied from a 19-point deficit to take down the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament. Huskies freshman Braylon Mullins drilled the game-winning 3-pointer with less than 1 second to play, sending UConn into the Final Four.
For some reason, Hurley celebrated by essentially head-butting one of the referees from the game.
What happened here?
Hurley was clearly in somewhat of a daze, unsure what to do after his team's miraculous comeback win.
But basically every sports league has strict rules when it comes to making contact with an official: it's not allowed. It will often lead to an ejection. In this case, it happened at the end of the game.
It's unclear what exactly the officials could have done in this situation, but it wouldn't be surprising to see Hurley facing some kind of fine for public reprimand for his behavior following the victory.
Hurley remains amazed by his team's win
"I knew it was a deep shot. I didn't realize how far away he was until – until I watched the replay of it, but it was kind of tracking in line," Hurley said in an interview with "CBS Mornings" on Monday. "Braylon is such a special shooter."
Hurley is off to the Final Four.
"The locker room was … lively, you know, there was some frustration," he said. "There was a lot of belief, and, you know, the team's been through a lot this year. It's been through a lot of injuries. We have had a lot of close games and we really … leaned on our resiliency and fortitude, and our habits of preparation and how hard we practiced."
UConn will take on Illinois in the Final Four on Saturday night.
