UConn coach Dan Hurley's emotions nearly cost his program a trip to the Final Four this past Sunday.
After Braylon Mullins made a 3-pointer to give UConn a 73-72 lead with 0.4 seconds remaining, Hurley bumped heads with official Roger Ayers. This wild interaction nearly stole all the headlines, which is quite impressive considering Mullins drained a 35-footer for the win.
Even though Hurley made contact with Ayers, he wasn't assessed a technical foul. If that happened, Duke could've won the game in the final second of regulation.
For what it's worth, former NFL referee Terry McAulay had a huge problem with Ayers refusing to give Hurley a technical foul in this spot.
"Under no circumstances should behavior like this go unpenalized, regardless of the sport or game situation," McAulay said. "Not unexpected by this coach. Deeply disappointed the official didn't do his job."
© Amber Searls-Imagn Images
CBS rules analyst and former NFL official Gene Steratore had a much different take on this situation. He believes Ayers made the right decision to let Hurley off the hook.
"Having reffed both sports at a very high level, I can tell you that the atmosphere in basketball and dealing with coaches is very different," Steratore wrote on social media.
"It’s all game long, a constant back and forth, and there is a mutual understanding between basketball refs and coaches. It’s part of what makes reffing it so much fun. I’m happy that Roger Ayers (who always referees games at a Final Four level) handled the end of the game the way that he did. This was not a confrontational situation. Uconn hit a buzzer beater a few seconds before the viral moment between Ayers and Hurley.
Dan Hurley shared his side to the story.
During an appearance on the "Triple Option" podcast, Hurley said his interaction with Ayers wasn't supposed to be hostile at all. In fact, he thought the referee was coming over to celebrate Mullins' incredible shot.
"Really, at that point in the game, we had it won," Hurley said. "And [Ayers is] such an easy guy to work with during the game, that I thought he was coming over to chest-bump me to celebrate the shot."
Hurley will be under the microscope this Saturday when UConn takes on Illinois in the Final Four. It's safe to say he'll need to be on his best behavior.
