If you thought you were shocked by the reaction of Geno Auriemma to UConn getting beaten by South Carolina in the women’s Final Four, nothing can prepare you for the reaction of Dan Hurley to the UConn men getting beaten by Michigan in the men’s national championship game.
Auriemma threw a temper tantrum that would make any toddler jealous as he ranted and raved both during and after the Huskies’ loss to the Gamecocks on Friday. Not only did he blow up during his in-game interview with Holly Rowe, he then made a scene out of the postgame handshake with South Carolina head coach Dawn Staley. Geno was widely condemned by the sports media and basketball universe for his childish, sore-loser antics before later offering an apology.
When you think of those kinds of undignified antics, Dan Hurley often springs to mind. Hurley has shown many times over that he does not take losing well, especially when it comes to blaming officials. Even after UConn’s incredible victory over Duke in the Elite 8, his bizarre nose-to-nose with a referee following the game-winning basket stole headlines.
And yet, the UConn men’s coach seemed to turn over a new leaf after his team fell just short of winning their third national championship in four years. Michigan was able to keep UConn at arm’s length throughout the second half on the way to a 69-63 victory. But instead of blaming the National Championship Game referees for his own team’s shortcomings, Hurley had some very uncharacteristic praise.
Dan Hurley on the officiating 👀
“It’s hard to ref that game. We both played so hard… If I could have those three guys ref every game the rest of my career, I would sleep well at night.” pic.twitter.com/6UHRdWJ0qo
— The Field of 68 (@TheFieldOf68) April 7, 2026
“That’s an all-star group there,” Hurley said. “Kip and Jeff obviously and James, who we’re familiar with as well. It’s such a physical game. Michigan is so physical I just thought, and again it’s not the reason why we lost the game obviously, plus 13 at the free throw line, plus 12 in attempts. I just thought the first half, foul trouble, I thought we were positioned if we didn’t have that foul trouble to potentially go into halftime with a lead. You go in with a lead and they make a run you’re down five instead of 11. But we also too, a problem for our team has been undisicplined fouling at times. But it’s hard to ref that game. We both played so hard. That’s not an easy game to officiate and if I could have those three guys ref every game the rest of my career I would sleep well at night.”
Of course in the midst of that praise, the UConn coach did manage to get in a remark about how many more free throws Michigan shot than Connecticut. But given the overall comments and the overall grace that he showed about the officiating, perhaps that is somewhat understandable. Michigan is just that dominant physically that you would expect them to have a free-throw advantage over pretty much every team in college basketball.
But in the annals of sports officiating, what Jeff Anderson, Kipp Kissinger, and James Breeding accomplished on Monday night may be unparalleled. They were able to earn praise from Dan Hurley.
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