"Our defense has been a disaster": Dan Hurley points at UConn's major flaws despite 54 point blowout win vs MD Eastern

Dan Hurley's UConn Huskies bounced back in a major way over the weekend demolishing Maryland Eastern Shore 99-45 in their return to Storrs.

After a week's trip to Hawaii which saw them drop three straight games at the Maui Invitational, losing to Memphis, Colorado and Dayton, the Huskies came back home looking to get on track before starting up Big East conference play.

The lopsided victory over the Hawks was much needed on Saturday, but Dan Hurley's displeasure with the team's effort was evident in his postgame comments.

"The things that are going well for us right now — I think offensively we're sixth [in the country]," he said (3:25). "Our defense has been a disaster, and we're playing nowhere near as hard as we've played in the past. And our rebounding has been a major problem."

"There's a lot of things that could be better, but I think we'll get that squared away," he added. "We're not playing up to it right now, but I do think that the potential is for us to get there, it's just going to take us a little bit more time."

Before heading into the Maui tournament, UConn averaged 90.4 points per game and held opponents to 64.6. However, their defense has taken a nosedive since then, allowing 85.6 points per game in Maui.

Hurley even called out his team's defense as "just so dreadful" after the loss against Colorado.

Dan Hurley views Maui results as part of long season

The UConn Huskies, winners of back-to-back national championships, entered this season aiming to complete a three-peat.

In their first four games, they had no problems, cruising past Sacred Heart, New Hampshire, Le Moyne, and East Texas with an average margin of 38 points.

However, things went downhill when they landed in Lahaina, Hawaii. The 0-3 record at Maui was tough to swallow, but Dan Hurley does not see it as the end of the world.

"Our performance in Maui shocked the college basketball world and the sports world. A lot went on there. It's a long season, and I don't look at it as a must-win game in game nine of such a long season," he said after the MD Eastern game.

"Obviously, you see the way people celebrate when they beat us, so it feels like it's a really big game for them when they play us too."

Dan Hurley and UConn face Baylor next, then travel to Austin, Texas, to take on the Longhorns, before concluding their nonconference schedule against Gonzaga in New York.