Dan Hurley was planning to refuse playing in Maui Invitational tournament even before 0-3 disappointment, claims UConn insider

Dan Hurley and the UConn Huskies endured a difficult trip to Maui last week. The reigning national champions suffered three shock defeats in the Maui Invitational Tournament, of which two were extremely narrow.

Following their crushing 99-45 win over the Maryland Eastern Shore Hawks on November 30, Dan Hurley admitted that he was no longer interested in having the Huskies take part in three-game tournaments like the Maui Invitational during the post game press conference.

"I'm not doing another 3-game MTE again. Moving forward, we will only play home-and-homes, and single-game events in big time arenas. I don't think I'll ever do a 3-game MTE again... Zero chance I'll do that again," said Hurley.

While Hurley made his intentions clear, it seems these thoughts were lingering before the tournament even began. According to a post on X from UConn insider David Borges, this has been a sentiment Hurley has felt strongly about in the recent past.

Borges learned about Hurley and UConn Athletic Director David Benedict's intentions a week before the tournament.

"Let’s be fair here. Hurley has been talking for a while about not playing in MTE’s in future. He and his AD told me so a week before Maui," wrote Borges.

Per Borges' piece for CT Insider on November 18, Dan Hurley was keen to have the Huskies play more home games while playing in neutral sites like Madison Square Garden to make the most of non-conference games.

"With the non-conference, rather than a third party, when you're in a revenue-sharing situation like we're heading into now, you've got to maximize the non-conference slate," said Hurley.

"We still want to play neutral-site games, particularly like MSG and places that make sense. But, we've got to play a schedule that's going to have more home-and-homes on it than anything else right now."

Dan Hurley and UConn endure torrid run in Maui

The Huskies came to Maui on the back of four straight wins to open the 2024-25 season. However, their run in Maui was far from ideal, with Dan Hurley getting a technical foul, which cost the reigning national champions in their opening game against the Memphis Tigers, which they lost 99-97.

They then suffered an upset against the Colorado Buffaloes, with Andrej Jakimovski making a game-winning layup to put the Buffaloes 73-72 up with just eight seconds to go in the second half. They were then outplayed by the Dayton Flyers, losing 85-67 to cap off a disappointing trip for the reigning national champions.

The Huskies suffered a massive drop in the AP Top 25 and are currently last in the weekly poll. They will face a tough test in the Big East-Big 12 Battle, as they face the No. 15 Baylor Bears at Storrs on December 4 at 6:30 PM ET.