Dan Hurley and the No. 2 seed UConn Huskies are one win away from a third title in four years after taking down Keaton Wagler and the No. 3 seed Illinois Fighting Illini 71-62 in the Final Four. Now, UConn is set to face off against Yaxel Lendeborg and the No. 1 seed Michigan Wolverines in the national championship on Monday night.
Against Illinois, Connecticut was led by star center Tarris Reed Jr. The senior from St. Louis tallied a team-high 17 points on 6-of-12 shooting and 11 rebounds. Freshman guard Braylon Mullins, who became an instant UConn legend after knocking down the game-winning 3-pointer against the Duke Blue Devils in the Elite Eight, added 15 points on 5-of-14 shooting, three rebounds and two steals.
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Throughout his eight-year career with the Huskies, Hurley has had his wife, Andrea Sirakides, by his side. The couple met in college at Seton Hall University, where Hurley played point guard, before getting married in 1997. They share two sons, Danny (1999) and Andrew (2002).
But just before tipoff of UConn vs. Illinois, Hurley noticed that he was missing the beads he had worn in every game he coached for the last 20 years, including his pre-Connecticut coaching days. So he had Sirakides leave the arena in Indianapolis and go back to the hotel to retrieve them, bringing them to Hurley with the Huskies down one.
"Right before the games gonna start, I've worn these beads every game I ever coached my whole career, and I noticed like 12 minutes before the game starts, I had no beads," Hurley said. "First time since I coached high school 20-plus years ago, no beads. I'm freaking out. Luke (Murray) calls her from the locker room, says You better get those beads.' And we ended up getting the beads there. We were down one point when the beads got there.
Sirakides also noted that she was told to leave as she was about to get in her seat, and had to get someone to send her a new, unused ticket to get back into Lucas Oil Stadium to watch UConn advance to the national championship.
"😂😂😂 Dan Hurley made his wife leave the Final Four game against Illinois to get his lucky beads from his hotel room," The Field of 68 wrote on X.
UConn vs. Michigan begins on Monday at 8:50 p.m. ET, with the Huskies looking to add to their recent college basketball dynasty.
