Dan Hurley gets 100% real on UConn's March Madness exit after loss to Florida

Few coaches wear their hearts on their sleeve like Dan Hurley, and after the UConn Huskies' loss to the Florida Gators in the Round of 32, the coach showed his emotions.

In a postgame interview with CBS’ Tracy Wolfson on Sunday, Hurley battled to hold back the tears and gave his assessment of the second-round game.

“They showed their quality," Hurley said. "I thought we played with tremendous honor. I thought we played with the heart of a championship program and a program that’s gone back-to-back.

"For a team to end what we really wanted to do, they were going to have to put us down and obviously a worthy opponent like that, there’s honor in the way we went out.”

UConn had a chance to keep its three-peat dream alive, as the Huskies held a slim lead in the back-and-forth affair with just under three minutes left in the game. But then UConn struggled to put points on the board, Walter Clayton Jr. made a couple of clutch shots and two big offensive rebounds on free throws helped the Gators (32-4), a No. 1 seed, go through 77-75.

The eighth-seeded Huskies had a challenging season. After winning it all in 2023 and 2024, they finished with a 24-11 record and lost in the Big East Tournament semifinals. Because of that, they were put on the eight line for the NCAA Tournament, and a second-round date with a top seed.

“This year has been a real battle," Hurley said. "We’ve been battled and we’ve had to battle, battle and battle. At times I don’t think we liked each other a whole lot for some of the things we had to go through together. But I don’t think I will ever love a team more.”

The Gators will now face the winner of the Maryland vs. Colorado State, who face each other later on Sunday.

Dan Hurley lashes out at officials after UConn is eliminated

As if he had to show the two sides of the same coin, Dan Hurley was caught on video complaining about officiating and “warning” Baylor players and staff about the refs before the Bears lost to Duke 89-66.

“I hope they don’t (expletive) you like they (expletive) us. I hope they don’t do that to you, Baylor,” Hurley said.

While there were a few questionable calls in the Florida vs. UConn affair, refs mainly let the teams play in a hard-fought basketball game.

Hurley’s outburst came just a few days after the coach acknowledged his antics had taken the focus away from the Huskies’ historic tournament run.

Even after the team’s hard-fought loss to the Gators, the conversation could shift once again to Hurley and yet another one of his rants.