Hurley: Up-and-down UConn ‘earned the 8-seed’

• David HaleMar 20, 2025, 04:48 PM ET Close College football reporter.Joined ESPN in 2012.

• Graduate of the University of Delaware.RALEIGH, N.C.– It’s been a rocky

season for the two-time protecting champs, but as UConn aims to take its first steps toward a third straight championship game, head coach Dan Hurley believes his team may’ve benefited from the rougher course to the NCAA tournament.Hurley said his Huskies”made the 8-seed” after an unsightly November efficiency at the Maui Invitational and combined results throughout Big East play, but those struggles have turned UConn into something of a potential Cinderella story, staring with its Friday match against Oklahoma.”I feel like, in an unusual way, it’s a little pressure off people entering into the tournament where we could

simply head out and let it rip today,”Hurley stated before UConn’s Thursday shootaround.”We do not have this big pressure of expectations. A lot of individuals do not believe we’re going to win the first game. “Editor’s Picks

1 Related Hurley called the match with the Sooners “a pet dog fight” however said he believes that unlike the past 2 seasons when UConn went into as a tournament preferred, this year’s team is better gotten ready for tough games.

“We’re more fight tested, just been through way more,” Hurley said, narrating the Huskies’ path from a 4-3 start to the year to earning signature wins against Baylor, Texas and Gonzaga in the stretch that followed.UConn goes into the

tournament at 23-10 and is seeded eighth– its worst seeding when making the tournament given that 2016, when the Huskies lost to Kansas in the 2nd round under previous coach Kevin Ollie.Forward Alex Karaban chalked up some of this season’s issues to injuries, however he said UConn’s approach hasn’t wavered from what got this program to the mountaintop each of the past two years. What’s various this time around, he stated, is the Huskies aren’t playing like they have a target on their backs. “I don’t believe there’s any pressure whatsoever,”Karaban stated.”Having actually done what we’ve done the last two years, heading into this year there’s no pressure. This is a completely various team. We have actually been on a completely different journey. We just want to use the jersey with honor and pride. If we do that, anything could happen when you play at UConn. “