"It was an awful experience": Alex Karaban resonates with Dan Hurley on Maui Invitational experience

UConn forward Alex Karaban echoed coach Dan Hurley's description of the Huskies' performance at the Maui Invitational, saying it was an awful experience.

The team posted a video on its YouTube page titled "Marching On: Season 3" and for its first episode, UConn summarized the games before the start of the Big East regular season. It featured the games from their season opener to the last nonconference game against Gonzaga.

Karaban said the experience was heartbreaking and the results of the tournament were disappointing. It made them realize that the team's journey to the third-straight national championship wasn't smooth sailing.

"Maui didn't go our way. We obviously went 0-3 and it was an awful experience. It was something that no one expected going into it, as we always expect to win championships," Karaban said (8:31).

UConn Huskies started the season 4-0 and were ranked No. 2 in the AP poll before going to the mini-tournament held at the Lahaina Civic Center in Hawaii.

The Huskies were favored to win the invitational title but what happened was the opposite of what the college basketball world expected.

They lost to Memphis in the opener by two points, Colorado in the second round by one point and Dayton by 18 points in the seventh-place game. Hurley summed up the Maui Invitational experience as (8:29):

"That felt like one long game really."

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UConn storms back, winning six straight games to end 2024 at No. 11 in AP poll

The losses in the Maui Invitational gave UConn a sense of urgency to fix its shortcomings.

"To avoid feeling like that again, you could change that feeling by going out and winning some big games and trying to get a little bit of it back. But that experience, it stays with you as a team and it's something that we'll use to our benefit the rest of the way," Dan Hurley said (9:54).

The losses relegated UConn to No. 25 in the AP poll and it touched them the right way, winning the next four nonconference matches, including victories against Baylor, Texas and Gonzaga.

The wins elevated the Huskies to No. 11 in the AP Poll. They also started the Big East regular season on a bright note, acing their first two assignments against Xavier and Butler.

UConn will aim for their third win in the Big East on Jan. 1, 2025, when they visit DePaul at the Wintrust Arena in Chicago, Illinois. The Huskies' six-game winning streak is at stake against the Blue Demons (8-4, 0-2 in Big East), who have lost four of their last five games after starting the season 7-0.