NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: FIRST ROUND - MARYLAND VS UCONN

March 20, 2021

Dan Hurley

Mackey Arena

UConn Huskies

Postgame Media Conference

Maryland - 63, UConn - 54

THE MODERATOR: We will now begin with an opening statement from Coach Hurley and then go to questions. Again, use the raised-hand function to indicate you have a question. When you're called on, please state your name and affiliation. Coach, a brief statement.

COACH HURLEY: Yeah, obviously big credit to Maryland. I thought those guys, offensively they played a great first, probably, 28 minutes, 30 minutes. Shot the cover off of it. Just I think they showed their experience, their quality. Ayala, I was scared to death of that matchup today, because we didn't have anyone who could guard him. And those guys are really seasoned, well-coached team.

I think we battled -- we played the way we've played the whole year. I wish we would have guarded better and I think obviously we dug that hole. When you get 18 offensive rebounds in the first half, indiscernible) you just miss that amount of layups at the rim, had a demoralizing effect on us. But we're proud of the guys and the steps they took this year. Obviously disappointed that we don't get a chance to play on Monday.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Coach. First question.

Q. You shot a season-ow 32 percent from the floor. What are some elements of Maryland that made it so hard to score?

COACH HURLEY: I mean, I think it was a tough matchup for us. We struggled against teams that switch a lot. There's not a script when teams switch. It becomes a matchup ball. And just didn't have a lot of guys that could really win one-on-one matchups, that today weren't very -- just trying to go by people. And when we did, picked some things up at the rim. But I think a lot of it had to do with just the first half.

When you miss that amount of shots, I've never seen a team get 18 offensive rebounds in a half and I just think the amount of close-knit shots we missed I think rattled us.

Q. Can you just talk about, two things, James' season and his night tonight?

COACH HURLEY: James's season. Obviously had a brilliant start. And the injury obviously set him back. James has been, obviously for this program, has meant so much to rebuilding this thing from the mess it was to back playing in March again where UConn belongs. He's obviously been a huge factor in that.

And listen, James is a young player. James is a sophomore player, which is still a young player in college basketball. This was a big spot. Morsell is an excellent defender. Those guys he's playing with at Maryland, those guys for the most part who were guarding today him were physical juniors and seniors. I think he was a little bit indecisive at times tonight. I think just overall we showed, as a group, we showed just a lack of experience in a moment like this.

Q. Hey, Dan, they shot 70 percent from deep tonight, like 10-of-14 from 3. Was it something they were doing, was it their hybrid offense? Or were they just hot or was it something you guys couldn't do, I guess?

COACH HURLEY: Listen, with our guarding, this is not a great matchup for the way we play defense. We've been a top 25 -- finished the season top 25 defensive team. And it's a bad fit versus a positionless five-out type of matchup. We played two conventional bigs, and this tournament is all about matchups.

If they have a bad shooting night and we convert those offensive rebounds where we're pounding them on the glass, it's a different game. But, you know, Wiggins goes 4-for-6 and Ayala goes 3-for-5. Obviously I think they're a 35 percent shooting team from 3. They made 9-of-18. And I think we're sort of watching them. And it was going to be an issue with the principles that we used defensively matching up with a five-out team.

Q. I have two things. What kinds of things was Eric Ayala able to do that messed you guys up defensively? And for Maryland they don't have the same post presence you have but what was some of the stuff they used to counter you guys inside?

COACH HURLEY: They did a great job either on the switches, fronting. They did a great job of fronting and sinking in off of another non-shooter we had on the court. And Morsell, you know Morsell is a beast. That guy's -- I love that guy. One of my favorite players in the country. So much for them, even though he ends up 7, 7, 4, he's a winner and a great player.

When he switches to your bigs, I mean that's not like a guard switching. That's a man down there. And we fronted it and made it hard for Donta to get position in there. That game, two post up. And Ayala, we were scared of what he was going to be able to do versus us because we've got players that don't have great size or physicality. And then once he was kind of overpowering those guys, Reese couldn't stay in front of him and James has a long way to go as a defender. We knew he was going to be a problem and he was exactly what we thought he was going to be.

Q. You're doing it in the context of where the program was when you got here, what the expectations, the growth at UConn and just the regular unconventional nature of the season. Do you consider you're a success now that you're at the end? Despite the disappointing ending, do you call this a successful season?

COACH HURLEY: You know, you're gutted here right now. Listen, really disappointed with -- this wasn't how I envisioned losing tonight. If we lost today, I was expecting us just to perform better, perform better under the lights.

But like a UConn team would normally do in these type of situations, but when I took the job, it was a disaster. You don't get to start back over where you used to be. So this year it was a huge success for us. It doesn't feel like it right now because you're devastated with the way the evening went.

Year three, you know, again for me, compete at the top of the Big East, get back in the NCAA Tournament is a huge hill to climb. Obviously the next hill that you must climb when you're the head coach at UConn is to consistently be at the top of your league, consistently be in this tournament, and have your team advance in this tournament. And I think you can see some of our awards throughout the year if you followed us, especially when we've stepped up against other teams. We've got a lot more to do as a program in terms of recruiting and developing and continuing to increase the talent here and just continuing to grow as a program. But, yeah, this was a huge success.

It's hard to say when you've got this on your chest and with everything Coach Calhoun did and Kevin and what Geno does, but the reality of our season was a huge step forward and a huge success, it certainly isn't going to feel like that for the next few days.

Q. Kind of just to follow up on that, actually. What did you say to the group after the game or what was that kind of atmosphere like following the loss?

COACH HURLEY: Usually there's a lot of tears. I think it was a different locker room than Creighton. Creighton there's a lot of -- there's a lot of emotion, a lot of tears because it was such a hard-fought battle. We were in there obviously, lead late, and we obviously scored under it. So there's a lot of tears and a lot of emotions. I think there was a lot of guys in that locker room that are feeling just really disappointed in how we played today. I think they're just kind of stunned that we didn't play better.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Coach.

COACH HURLEY: I appreciate everybody all year. You guys have been great. Thank you.