Dom Amore: UConn men’s basketball stands at the Final Four threshold. Now, Dan Hurley can finally get a good night’s sleep.
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LAS VEGAS — Dan Hurley spent a nearly sleepless night Wednesday. The remaining prep work for Arkansas and the biggest game of his career — at least until Saturday — was one thing on his mind.
Then he learned that one of his most important players would have to go all day and play the game without food or fluids.
“Ho-leee crap,” Hurley said, during a quiet postgame moment in his office at the T-Mobile Arena, after the UConn men beat Arkansas 88-65 to reach the NCAA’s Elite Eight. “I wasn’t aware. You’re so locked in on the opponent, my wife (Andrea) actually told me last night that Adama was now at that point. I didn’t sleep much thinking about it.”
Adama Sanogo, Hassan Diarra and Samson Johnson would all begin observing Ramadan, a month of fasting, prayer, reflection and community observed by Muslims worldwide. It wasn’t a factor the last two seasons, with the UConn men out of the NCAA Tournament after the Round of 64, but now, as Hurley and the Huskies are traveling this long coveted territory together, it was one more question that had to be answered.
And the Huskies had all the answers this NCAA Tournament, haven’t they?
Rick Pitino’s reputation? St. Mary’s slow-down? Questions answered. Now Sanogo, the 6-foot-9 center from Mali who had 52 points and 21 rebounds in the first two games, had to get out of bed at 5 a.m., before sunrise in Vegas Thursday, to drink fluids rich in electrolytes and eat foods with slow metabolizing carbs, like pasta and starches. And it would have to carry him for 14 hours, including the 2 1/2-hour Sweet 16 game. He got 18 points and eight rebounds in 24 minutes. Question. Answer.
“In high school, I used to play AAU during Ramadan, I’m used to it,” Sanogo said. “Since I was a kid, this is something I’ve had to do. I’ve been doing it my whole life, so I don’t think about it. It’s something that I have to do.”
Diarra, UConn’s backup point guard, played four minutes. His older brother, Mamadou, UConn’s director of player development, was also observing. Ramadan has always been part of their lives, so the program’s medical and athletic training staff gave the players discretion on how to manage their religious obligations, making suggestions and making sure the team’s hotel had the right foods available at the right times.
“Just try to get some food in me, some electrolytes, and then just follow what we have on the schedule for basketball,” Hassan Diarra said. “It can be tough, but I think I can handle it. You saw Adama today, he was a monster, dominant. He was doing it.”
The program has had to manage Ramadan before. Its star point guard, Khalid El-Amin had a period of fasting during UConn’s first championship season in 1999, when then, as Saturday, they faced Gonzaga in the West Region final. El-Amin was at the game Thursday.
Hurley, who is known to sweat the details, no matter how minute, was concerned, but it turned out to be the most stress-free of the Huskies’ three victories in this tournament.
“It’s helpful that you have Mo and Hassan [Diarra] and Samson, four Muslim players, and coaches on the team were able to get together and eat before the sun came up and eat quality things that would be sustainable,” Hurley said.
“The way Adama’s dominated. … It got us thinking about subbing him quicker, shorter runs in the game, even though he couldn’t come to the bench and drink anything. What a performance considering he hadn’t eaten since (4 a.m.).”
Ramadan, the ninth month of the Islamic calendar, began Wednesday and will last until April 20, so it will be a consideration for as long as the Huskies go in this NCAA Tournament. Now that they are deeper than they have been since their last championship in 2014, and Hurley is deeper into March Madness than he has ever been in his coaching career, there is no end in clear sight. The regional final, which most coaches consider the toughest one to win, will certainly be the toughest challenge yet. Another answer will be needed.
But as for the game against Arkansas, an No. 8 seed coming off its upset of No. 1 Kansas, it was no contest. The Huskies (28-8) have fully regained the torrid play they displayed in the nonconference season. The push-and-shove battles of the Big East, the only games they have lost, are behind them unless they should run into Xavier or Creighton at the Final Four.
Hurley, five years to the day he was hired and roughly one year since he called Sanogo, Andre Jackson and Jordan Hawkins into his office and it was decided that another first-round exit could not happen in 2023, is delivering on all he promised and is riding this wave with all of them.
Whatever happens Saturday or beyond, there is no more doubting that Hurley’s basketball mind and the heart he wears on his sleeve were built for this. At 50, he is emerging from whatever shadows were cast, as part of his famous basketball family or the daunting UConn tradition and now stands at the pinnacle of his profession.
“I’m just proud of the way we’ve built this thing,” he said. “We’re right where we thought we would be. … I’m proud of the way my career has unfolded, where I’ve had to prove myself at every level I’ve coached at.”
Saturday’s game will start later (8:49 p.m. ET), so the fasting players will be able to take fluids at some point. Always looking for a way, Hurley is wondering if it would be acceptable for players to receive fluids by IV during Ramadan, and plans to research if the Huskies get to the Final Four. In the meantime, he could get a good night’s sleep. He has had all the answers so far, and so has his team.
“It’s 6:59,” Sanogo called out to his teammates, “It’s okay.” The sun had set on Las Vegas four minutes earlier, and he gulped down two bottles of coconut water to toast another satisfying victory. The way this is all rolling, it could soon call for champagne at sunset.
