Hurley swears UConn got a bad call, and he's right

Nov. 26—There are times when a few colorful metaphors are required. No, that doesn't mean UConn fans swearing at their television sets Thursday afternoon surrounded by friends and family as their Huskies blew a late lead against Michigan State.

That would be coach Dan Hurley verbally expressing his displeasure at a late call by officials in the Bahamas. One that fouled out his point guard with 30 seconds to play and gave the Spartans two free throws when they trailed by one and fueled them to a 64-60 upset of No. 22 UConn.

It was not quite to the level of the famous John Clougherty phantom foul call on Michigan's Rumeal Robinson in the final seconds of the 1989 national championship game against Seton Hall.

But Hurley, a New Jersey native and Seton Hall alum, let a few choice expletives fly Thursday like this latest call cost him a national title again.

In reality, it only cost him at Battle 4 Atlantis title.

We can talk about how there are hundreds of plays in a game that cause a game to lose and that officials rarely, if ever, cost a team a game. But what fun is that?

Let the curses commence over an injustice to the Huskies.

With UConn leading 61-60 with only a few scant ticks left on the occasionally malfunctioning clock inside Imperial Arena, Michigan State's A.J. Hoggard drove to the basket and was stripped of the ball by UConn's R.J. Cole relatively cleanly.

The officials called Cole for a foul, however, which was the Husky point guard's fifth. Hoggard hit both free throws to put the Spartans ahead 61-60.

The Huskies, demoralized by the call perhaps, completed the collapse after that. Michigan State ended the game by scoring the final nine points.

In discussing the play with the media after the game, Hurley was much more diplomatic but no less convinced of Cole's innocence.

"That's a tough call. I watched it. It's a jump ball," Hurley said. "Listen, we lost because we made a lot of mistakes and Michigan State did not. They made the plays. But, yeah, I don't understand what happened there."

UConn fans, energized by the Huskies' impressive 115-109 double-overtime win over Auburn Wednesday, didn't understand either. In truth, there was nothing to understand.

One official made a call when out of position after his colleague, who was closest to the play, judged the defensive effort to be a "play on."

One reporter on site in Atlantis seemed surprised that Hurley was upset by the call, even asking Izzo about the exchange.

"Did you hear Danny? All of his f-bombs at the referee?" the questioner said.

Izzo was gracious, perhaps hiding his incredulity.

"I've been where he his. I've just mellowed a little bit," Izzo said.

The Huskies, of course, kept playing this afternoon. The faced off against Virginia Commonwealth in the tournament's third-place game.

It's not an, ahem, damn place Hurley liked to be.

"We expected to be playing (today) in the championship game," Hurley said. "UConn comes to tournaments, they expect to playing in the championship."

A championship in the Bahamas was out of reach but Hurley made it clear before tangling with VCU that a second consecutive loss was not acceptable.

"Coming out of here we're not going to get exactly what we want. But we better leave here 2-1," Hurley said.

It may sting now but the Huskies might not be disappointed when the season plays out. Izzo swears he thinks UConn could do big things in 2021-22.

"That team's going to be going somewhere before the year is over. I promise you that," Izzo said.

UConn's players were obviously a little tired from Wednesday's exhaustive overtime excursion, but offered no excuses for their loss.

"We knew we had to take care of our bodies. Every team had to play three games in three days," UConn guard/forward Tyrese Martin said. "So we can't sit here and use that as an excuse. Yes, it was a slow start but we ended up rallying back. We just weren't tough enough at the end to be able to finish plays and execute on offense."

The Huskies played tough and gave it what they had. They easily could have and perhaps should have won.

In such instances, profanity is permitted.

Neill Ostrout is the sports editor of the Journal Inquirer.

Neill covers UConn men's basketball and UConn football teams, and he keeps a finger on the pulse of Connecticut sports. For live game updates, and more insight into UConn athletics, player transfers, and team changes, follow Neill on Twitter: @NeillOstrout, Facebook: JINeillO, and Instagram: @NeillOstrout.