Dan Hurley: 'It Takes a Robust Staff' To Come Again, Beat Duke In Elite Eight

[ad_1] It was an uphill battle for UConn on Sunday. The second-seeded Huskies began the sport going 1-for-18 from 3-point vary and trailed top-seeded seed Duke by double digits with 6:37 remaining within the second half. That is when issues took a flip for the higher.

UConn pulled off a surprising comeback, due to its gritty tradition, which has been curated because the preseason and developed to come back by means of in moments like Sunday's Elite Eight 73-72 win over the Blue Devils.

"It takes a powerful staff … a tricky staff … powerful males," UConn coach Dan Hurley mentioned within the postgame press convention. "We run a really intense program. We're on these guys. We stress them in apply.

"We put a number of stress on them each day, to do the best issues, to do every thing at recreation pace, to do every thing arduous, to do every thing powerful [and] to be ready — as a result of that is what it takes to win video games like this."

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UConn went down early, falling behind 40-21 within the first half whereas Duke "punched us within the mouth," based on Hurley. Duke freshman Cameron Boozer was dominating the sport on each side, and the Blue Devils took a 15-point lead into the break. The Huskies reduce the margin to single digits with 6:07 remaining within the second half when Silas Demary Jr. knocked down back-to-back 3s. Demary epitomized the "powerful males" Hurley was referring to, as he sustained a high-ankle sprain within the Large East Match and returned lower than two weeks later.

Tarris Reed Jr. scored a layup, then dished a candy move to Solo Ball for an additional layup earlier than Ball transformed a three-point play that reduce the margin to 2. Duke answered, extending the margin to 5 and taking a two-point lead into its remaining possession. The Blue Devils simply wanted to get fouled and convert on the line to seal the sport. As a substitute, UConn's ball stress flummoxed Duke.

As a substitute of letting himself get fouled, Cayden Boozer tried to flee stress with a move excessive of two defenders. Demary tipped it, Braylon Mullins collected it and handed it alongside to Alex Karaban, who gave it proper again, deferring to the freshman for the decisive shot.

"It is nonetheless a lack of phrases, nonetheless processing all [that] simply occurred," Mullins mentioned after the sport. "I had the ball, and I do know [Alex Karaban] had simply hit one. So I threw him the ball with 4 seconds left, and he simply threw the ball again to me.

"I knew I needed to put one up. Man, I am simply comfortable that is the one which went down tonight."

Mullins, like his teammates, had struggled from 3-point vary earlier within the recreation, lacking his first 4 makes an attempt from deep. Nonetheless, he made the one which counted most. That is what UConn did collectively Sunday — confirmed up when it counted.

In what Hurley referred to as "one other epic chapter within the UConn-Duke NCAA Match dramatics", the Huskies caught with it and got here out on high. "You are having a very dangerous capturing evening … however what kicks in is only a bunch of sturdy males, a powerful staff, gamers that permit their coaches coach them arduous and put together them for powerful moments," Hurley mentioned.