Big East Basketball

UConn men's basketball head coach Dan Hurley isn't worried about the Huskies falling out of the latest Associated Press Top 25 poll.

"No one gets crowned in February," Hurley said on Monday, per Adam Zagoria of NJ.com.

"You know, there's no crowns handed out for for a while here," he added. "Obviously, in today's world there's going to be very quick reactions and all types of hot takes."

The Huskies, who have won the national championship in each of the past two seasons, own a 4-4 record over their past eight games and sit at 16-7 overall.

This included a 68-62 loss to No. 9 St. John's on Friday in which UConn blew a 14-point lead, faltering down the stretch of the second half.

Hurley's team is now out of the AP top 25 for the first time since the 2022-23 preseason poll (h/t Kels Dayton of the Hartford Courant).

The Huskies sat at No. 3 in the Week 1 AP top 25 poll for the 2024-25 season, rising as high as No. 2 before steadily dropping down.

Still, Hurley isn't concerned with the team's current placement and is focused on getting back on track for March.

"There's no crowns that get handed out on February 10," Hurley said, per Zagoria. "I know we didn't get any crowns the last two years in the beginning of February. So everyone's got to keep playing and, you know, all the big things get decided in March."

The Huskies have dealt with multiple injuries to key players this season. Freshman forward Liam McNeeley has only appeared in 15 games due to an ankle injury, while senior point guard Hassan Diarra has been dealing with knee issues.

The Huskies will attempt to start finding some consistency on Tuesday, facing off against Creighton. Tip-off is at 9 p.m. ET.

A UConn spokesman denied that men's basketball coach Dan Hurley was told by school officials to "tone down" his behavior on the sidelines after the Maui Invitational.

The spokesman told CT Insider's David Borges a supposed meeting between Hurley and university president Radenka Maric "didn't happen."

Hurley is never shy about showing his emotions during a game, whether it's celebrating a big moment for the Huskies or arguing about an officiating decision. Even by his usual standards, though, the two-time national champion was in rare form during the Maui Invitational.

Kyle Boone of CBSSports.com was among those who thought the time had come for Hurley to dial his behavior back a bit and described it as a "festering problem."

"He berated officials, routinely violated bench decorum by breaking the boundary of the coaching box and making profane comments with numerous outbursts that could have—and should have—earned him far more punishment for acting inappropriate and unprofessional than the one technical he left Hawaii with," Boone wrote.

College basketball analyst Robbie Hummel also called Hurley's antics "embarrassing" and said the coach might be costing his team by going after the referees so frequently:

UConn's 4-3 start meant Hurley's sideline displays were going to become a bigger story. The Huskies went from the No. 3 team in the Associated Press' Top 25 poll to almost falling out of the rankings altogether after going winless in Maui.

Then the reigning national champs went on an eight-game winning streak before their 68-66 loss to Villanova on Wednesday. Not surprisingly, Hurley has been a little less of a subplot amid the program's quest for a three-peat.

And based on Borges' report, this doesn't appear to be much of an issue within the administration, either.

The Butler Bulldogs are paying homage to their home city.

The men's basketball team revealed new alternate uniforms called the "Checker Out" uniforms in honor of "The Racing Capital of the World."

Butler is located in Indianapolis, which is the home to Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the famous Indianapolis 500 IndyCar race.

The race is held annually and the 2025 version will be held on May 26. It has been held since 1911, which is 15 years after Butler's inaugural basketball season.

The Bulldogs are currently 7-9 on the 2024-25 season and 0-5 within the Big East Conference. They have not reached the NCAA Tournament since 2018.

Butler will wear the uniforms for Saturday's matchup against Creighton. It is the second annual "Checker Out" game and fans will be asked to wear white or dark shirts based on their sections. This will be done to create a checkered flag pattern within the arena.

Two collegiate basketball alums out of Iowa turned Indiana hoopers, Caitlin Clark and Tyrese Haliburton, were both in attendance for the Wisconsin Badgers' 83-74 victory over the Butler Bulldogs on Saturday.

The game took place at Gainbridge Fieldhouse where both the NBA's Indiana Pacers and the WNBA's Indiana Fever call home.

The No. 20 ranked Badgers entered Saturday's road game on a three-game losing streak, clearly entering Indianapolis with vengeance as they took a 47-33 lead entering halftime.

Saturday was not the first time that the two stars have attended a Butler game together, previously having seen them hit the court on Nov. 11 as they took a 85-65 victory over Western Michigan.

Iowa Hawkeyes alum Clark made waves in her rookie WNBA season with the Fever, averaging 19.2 points, 5.7 rebounds and 8.4 assists per game while shooting 41.7 percent from the field and 34.4 percent from the three-point line.

On top of her groundbreaking rookie season with the Fever, Clark was named TIME'S 2024 Athlete of the Year on Tuesday.

Clark was also present for the Pacers' 114-110 victory over the New Orleans Pelicans, where Haliburton hit nine three-pointers and scored 34 points.

Iowa State Cyclones alum Haliburton is a two-time All-Star in his fifth year, averaging 18.0 points, 3.3 rebounds, and 8.5 assists while shooting 42.6 percent from the field.

St. John's men's and women's basketball teams will wear patches honoring late Hall of Famer Lou Carnesecca for the remainder of the 2024-25 season, the school announced on Wednesday.

Carnesecca died on Nov. 30 at age 99. He led St. John's men's basketball to 526 wins over 24 seasons between 1965 and 1992.

St. John's vice president of athletics Edward M. Kull shared an image of the commemorative patch on X.

In addition to the patches, special tributes in Carnesecca's memory will be held this weekend during a men's game against Kansas State on Saturday and a women's contest against Wake Forest on Sunday.

St. John's will share a tribute video honoring Carnesecca, followed by a moment of silence ahead of each game. Photos of Carnesecca will be displayed on the video board throughout the game.

The court will also feature a decal celebrating Carnesecca, and players will wear shirts emblazoned with his wins total and signature during shootarounds.

St. John's will dedicate additional tributes in Carnesecca's memory when the men's basketball program takes on Butler on Jan. 4, the day prior to what would have been the late head coach's 100th birthday.

Fans attending this "Lou Carnesecca Day" game will receive miniature versions of the statue of Carnesecca installed in the arena lobby in 2021.

In addition to in-game tributes, St. John's said messages honoring Carnesecca will be displayed on digital billboards on the Long Island Expressway, Whitestone Expressway and New Jersey Turnpike.

Carnesecca was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame after retiring as St. John's head coach in 1992. He led his teams to an overall 526-200 record and remains the winningest head coach in program history.

The officials at the 2024 Maui Invitational likely aren't going to get many holiday cards from UConn head coach Dan Hurley.

Hurley was issued a critical technical foul in the final minute of Monday's overtime loss to Memphis when he protested an over-the-back call against Liam McNeeley. That was surely on his mind Tuesday when officials did not call a potential over-the-back foul on Colorado as it grabbed an offensive rebound to keep a possession alive in the final 30 seconds.

UConn assistant coaches had to hold Hurley back from protesting too much after Tuesday's no-call, and the coach was surely even more upset when that possession ended with Colorado scoring what proved to be the winning basket in a 73-72 victory.

Hurley called Tuesday's no-call "more egregious" and "ironic," although he blamed his team's "dreadful" defense for the loss:

That he blamed the defense and not the officials for the end result was a change from Monday's outcome.

After all, he was asked if he believed his technical foul and the ensuing two free throws cost his team the game against Memphis since the Tigers won by two points and told reporters, "I think it was the s--tty calls. I would expect to come to play in an event, and I don't know too many back-to-back national championship teams that get that type of a whistle."

He didn't stop there and continued to criticize the officials in the aftermath of Monday's loss:

Yet Tuesday's game felt different.

While an over-the-back call would have been a key development at that time considering there were fewer than 30 seconds remaining and the Huskies had a one-point lead, that one no-call didn't determine the outcome of the entire game.

Rather, UConn blew a double-digit lead against a team it was expected to defeat. Had it not taken its proverbial foot off the pedal and allowed the Buffaloes back into the game, the no-call wouldn't have taken on as much importance.

The Huskies also still had the lead when Colorado came down with the controversial offensive rebound. They still had the opportunity to get a defensive stop to clinch the win but instead allowed Andrej Jakimovski to drive the lane and score the winning basket.

Hurley's team also could have scored in the final seconds after Jakimovski's basket, but Hassan Diarra's three-pointer didn't fall.

The head coach himself recognized the defense that allowed Colorado to shoot 51.1 percent from the field and 56.3 percent from deep was a bigger problem than the officials in the outcome of the game.

Fortunately for the Huskies, they still have plenty of time to turn things around this season even with back-to-back losses in the early going.

The UConn Huskies men's basketball team has won two national championships in a row.

And the UConn Huskies men's basketball team has lost two games in a row.

Colorado stunned Dan Hurley's squad 73-72 in Tuesday's Maui Invitational matchup. It was a game in the loser's bracket, as the Buffaloes dropped a contest against Michigan State on Monday while the Huskies lost in overtime to Memphis.

It seemed like UConn was going to bounce back with relative ease when it jumped out to a double-digit lead in the first half, but Colorado trimmed the deficit to eight by intermission and then battled back in the second half.

Andrej Jakimovski drove to the lane and hit a difficult shot as he was falling to the ground with eight seconds remaining to give the Buffaloes the lead, and Hassan Diarra's potential game-winning three-pointer on the other end didn't fall for the Huskies.

That crunch-time sequence also came after assistant coaches had to hold Hurley back when the officials didn't call a potential over-the-back foul on a key offensive rebound for Colorado. It was a particularly notable no-call since Hurley was issued a critical technical foul in Monday's loss when UConn was whistled for an over-the-back call in overtime.

A second straight loss for the reigning champions led to plenty of reaction on social media:

The end result is UConn will now play in the seventh-place game in the Maui Invitational, which is surely not what it expected heading into the tournament. Even though it is a strong field with teams such as Auburn, Iowa State, North Carolina and Michigan State, the Huskies were the headliners.

And now they aren't.

Foul trouble was an issue for Hurley's team Tuesday, as Samson Johnson and Tarris Reed Jr. each fouled out down the stretch. Liam McNeeley (20 points) and Solo Ball (16 points) did what they could, but it wasn't enough in the winning moments.

Julian Hammond III and Elijah Malone each scored 16 points for Colorado, which improved to 5-1 on the season with a win that will resonate all the way to Selection Sunday.

The Memphis Tigers made two technical free throws in the final minute of their overtime victory over UConn Huskies.

The Memphis Tigers won the game by, well, two points in a 99-97 final.

But UConn head coach Dan Hurley doesn't believe his technical foul cost his team the game.

"I think it was the s--tty calls," he said, per Matt Norlander of CBS Sports. "I would expect to come to play in an event, and I don't know too many back-to-back national championship teams that get that type of a whistle."

He also said he believes the technical was issued because he fell to the ground protesting an over-the-back call on an offensive rebound, adding "what I gave the cameras today was Oppenheimer" when discussing how he comes across on camera.

"That was a joke," Hurley said of the technical, per Brendan Marks of The Athletic. "I mean, I just watched it. … I had a lot of issues with what went on in the game. … For that call to be made at that point in the game is a complete joke."

He didn't stop there when complaining about the whistle:

The technical and overtime ending cost the Huskies memories of an incredible comeback in regulation.

Memphis took a 13-point lead with just more than four minutes remaining on a Dain Dainja basket just for UConn to shift into takeover mode down the stretch. The two-time reigning champions dialed up the defensive pressure on the Tigers, which led to rushed possessions and turnovers as the Huskies gradually climbed back into the game.

One of those turnovers came with 14 seconds remaining and Memphis nursing a three-point lead. UConn capitalized on the ensuing possession with a dramatic Solo Ball three-pointer with one second left to force overtime.

It looked like Hurley's team was going to win from there with all the momentum, especially after another three from Ball extended the lead to four with two minutes left in the extra period. Yet the Tigers responded with multiple three-pointers of their own to tie the game before Liam McNeeley was whistled for an over-the-back call in the final minute.

Had the call not happened, McNeeley likely would have had an easy putback to take the lead again after the offensive rebound. Instead, Memphis got two free throws for the foul and was awarded with two more after Hurley lost his composure on the sidelines.

To UConn's credit, it cut into the four-point deficit with free throws of its own and had a final desperation heave at the buzzer, but it didn't fall.

It's not a stretch to suggest the Huskies would have won the game if the officials didn't call the questionable over-the-back foul. It's also not a stretch to suggest the Huskies would have won the game if Hurley kept his composure and did not pick up a technical foul.

Fortunately for the head coach and team, it is only November in a long season. It will have plenty of time to bounce back from this loss and compete for a Big East title and No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament.

But Hurley's sideline antics were once again the storyline during Monday's loss.

The back-to-back defending champs have their first loss of the year just five games into the season.

Penny Hardaway and unranked Memphis knocked off No. 2 UConn 99-97 at the Maui Invitational on Monday, snapping a 17-game winning streak for the Huskies. UConn, which finished 37-3 a year ago, hadn't lost since Feb. 20 when they fell to Creighton in a Big East matchup. It was UConn's first loss to a non-conference opponent in almost a year.

The Tigers led by double digits late in the second half, but Dan Hurley's squad had a late push to make it a three-point game with just over a minute to go. Memphis hit a pair of free throws before UConn did the same on the other end. The Huskies then forced a turnover down three with 13 seconds left.

UConn scrambled on its final possession before Solo Ball drained a three with just over a second remaining to tie things up. Memphis' game-winner attempt from beyond halfcourt missed and the game went into overtime.

It was back and forth for much of overtime before Hurley picked up a technical with less than a minute to go. The Tigers made both technical free throws before making two free throws from the previously called foul to make it a four-point game.

A chaotic final minute saw UConn cut it back down to a one-possession game, but it was too little, too late with just two seconds remaining.

Memphis looked to veteran transfer Tyrese Hunter in the win, and he delivered. The senior had 26 points on a scorching hot 7-of-10 from deep. Sophomore guard PJ Haggerty also contributed 22 points and five assists while senior forward Dain Dainja dropped 14 off the bench.

After the game, fans were stunned to see the defending champs fall to an unranked squad.

If there is one thing that can be said about Memphis, it is that the Tigers often rise to the occasion. ESPN's Jeff Borzello noted that Monday's win marked five straight against ranked opponents for Memphis since the start of last season.

Since Hardaway took over at Memphis ahead of the 2018-19 season, the Tigers have found some success but haven't gotten to the next level of being a championship contender. Monday's win shows that things could look different this year.

Memphis has mostly relied on young talent in the past but has a roster full of veteran transfers this year. That could be the recipe for success for Hardaway and the Tigers.

UConn's hopes of a third straight tile are far from over, but it's clear the Huskies lost some talent last year and have some work to do before they return to their dominant selves.

Georgetown and Illinois aren't rivals and don't play in the same conference, but Hoyas men's basketball head coach Ed Cooley still had some choice words for the Fighting Illini on Saturday.

"I've also seen a growth in Jayden," Cooley told reporters when discussing guard Jayden Epps, who started his collegiate career at Illinois in 2022-23 before transferring to Georgetown. "I talked to him yesterday in practice, I talked to him today before the game. His development defensively, I mean, it's almost like he's a new player. It's something I saw in him his freshman year when he played for that other bulls--t school."

Illinois head coach Brad Underwood wasn't exactly interested in engaging in a back-and-forth.

"That's not even worth wasting my time on," he told reporters. "I don't know what he was referencing that about. I know Jayden (Epps) had a productive freshman year here. But I'm not getting into all that. I'll let our fans and everybody else have some fun with that, which I'm sure they probably are."

After Cooley and the Hoyas defeated St. Francis (PA) on Saturday, the head coach took to social media to apologize and say he has "the utmost respect for the University of Illinois."

Epps arrived at Illinois as a 4-star prospect in the class of 2022, per 247Sports' composite rankings, and was a solid secondary contributor as a freshman while averaging 9.5 points per game.

He has since become far more productive at Georgetown and averaged 18.5 points, 4.2 assists and 1.2 steals per game last season. Yet players improving as their collegiate careers continue is nothing new, and there's nothing to say Epps wouldn't have taken a similar leap had he remained at Illinois.

The guard was also more of a focal point of the offense, as he attempted 8.6 field goals per game at Illinois compared to 15.6 last season at Georgetown. Notably, he was slightly more efficient with the Fighting Illini at 41.4 percent from the field compared to 39.2 percent last season.

He has hit 40.3 percent of his field-goal attempts in five games this season but is also averaging a career-best 2.0 steals. That defense is exactly what Cooley highlighted, as Epps appears to be developing into a better all-around player.

Yet the story was more about Cooley than the player given the coach's comments, especially since neither team was challenged in their Saturday games.

Illinois defeated Maryland Eastern Shore by 47 points.

Georgetown and Illinois don't play each other this season, although they are each 4-1 in the early going. Perhaps they will both make the NCAA tournament and set up a game that will now feature no shortage of storylines.