Dan Hurley almost ruined UConn’s amazing Duke upset with bizarre ref interaction

The close to UConn vs. Duke was the defining moment of March Madness. Duke dominated the first half, UConn clawed their way back in throughout the second — and it felt as if it would be for naught, until we had the most incredible finish to the game, perhaps not just of this tournament, but one of the best endings in NCAA tournament history.

It’s what happened after this moment that was truly unbelievable. Some (predominantly upset Duke fans) are noting that several UConn players and coaches ran onto the floor with 0.4 seconds left, which could technically be a technical foul if the refs were feeling pedantic — but easily the wildest scene came from UConn coach Dan Hurley, who absolutely should have been tee’d up for making contact with an official.

Hurley’s reaction came in response to the refs telling him and his staff to get off the court, which I guess Hurley took exception too by leaning in and pressing his head against the officials. This isn’t some sort of subjective grey area. If any player did this to an official they’d receive a technical and likely be ejected. This is some incredible leniency from the officials which 100% had to do with the stakes in the moment.

If they followed the letter of the law then Hurley would have received a tech, been ejected, and Duke would get to shoot two free throws while being down one with 0.4 seconds left. They would have sent Isaiah Evans to the line, who has been an 86% free throw shooter this season. It’s entirely likely he would have hit both shots, or at least made one — leading to overtime, and UConn without their head coach in dramatic fashion.

The Huskies got unbelievably lucky for evading the foul and preserving their moment. Thankfully this didn’t take away from the players’ incredible achievement, but that doesn’t mean Hurley should have been allowed to be an incredible jerk and get off scot-free.