NEW YORK (AP) — UConn coach Dan Hurley It got hot around the fan again Friday night.
Moments after Saint John's counterpart Rick Pitino Hurley received a technical foul for yelling at officials in the Big East semifinal, and Hurley was whistled for one during the same stoppage in play.
With his father, a Hall of Fame high school coach Bob Hurley Father Dan Hurley, who was sitting in the front row directly behind him, called security to remove a fan from a nearby seat at a sold-out Madison Square Garden.
“Obviously the place was going crazy when the coach got it. And then there was a guy — there was a short guy with a red jacket on and he was on the field yelling at the refs, and then he started yelling at me and moving in my direction,” Hurley said. Just pointing out to (referee James Breeding) that he was behaving worse than coach Pitino.
“I was just trying to help the officials. They might not have seen it. Then I got a technique to point out increasingly more aggressive fans. On the field, you shouldn't end up on the field.”
Hurley said the fan was cursing a lot, but the UConn coach said he later told the ushers he didn't want the guy fired.
I kept it inside. They would have thrown him out of the game. I went there to tell the guides that I wanted him to stay, not because I thought he was a good guy. “I thought it might be bad luck,” Hurley said with a laugh. “Karma.”
The New York Post reported that St. John's fan, Tom O'Grady, said he didn't say anything to Hurley and all he did was tell the official that Hurley had walked out of the practice box.
“Yes, this guy is a straight shooter,” Hurley said, dripping with sarcasm.
The trade came six days after Hurley spent most of the final minute of his team's 74-60 win over Providence. Jaw with fan brothers in second row. The NCAA champion coach also waved his arms to cheer on a large group of fans rooting for the road team, then left the court with his index fingers raised in the air.
“I just told him, 'I got a national championship ring, we won the Big East regular season, and we're the champions,'” Hurley said after that game. “And you must be silent, and you must not speak verbally at that stage of the game. You know, just get out of here. you know? Just go.'”
Hurley was always shouting clearly, unlike many college basketball coaches, and Hurley was excited on the sideline all the time Second-place UConn wins 95-90 over St. John's. But the star guards Tristen Newton Cam Spencer thought it was nothing out of the ordinary.
“Honestly, today, I thought he was a little bit calmer,” Newton said.
Hurley said he reset himself at halftime by doing a 3-minute meditation on his Calm app.
“Now I may be the boy who cried wolf because of the last game. But I promise you if we play Marquette tomorrow night, there won't be any incident because these people are incredibly classy fans and we have incredible respect for them,” Hurley said.
Marquette played Providence in the second Big East semifinal for a spot in the title game against UConn.
As for Pitino, 71 years old, he downplayed the technical examination he received at 8:16 of the first half due to his objection to a foul against St. John's midfielder Joel Soriano.
“I haven't had a technician in a long time. I was really looking forward to that moment,” Pitino deadpanned, adding that his offer was contrived because he felt things weren't going the Red Storm's way.
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AP College Sports Writer Ralph D. contributed to this report. Rousseau.
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