"We're shooting ourselves in the foot": Dan Hurley erupts at UConn players during huddle vs Butler

UConn Huskies coach Dan Hurley has seemingly turned the tide with his team in their bid for a national championship three-peat this 2024-2025 season. On Tuesday, Jan. 21, the 19th-ranked team in the nation went back and forth against the Butler Bulldogs but was clutch in the end to secure an 80-78 overtime win — avoiding a potential second straight loss at home.

One of the instances that can be attributed to the Huskies playing on a re-energized motor was when Hurley was once again captured by @CBBonFOX on X in an intense mood during a timeout. He huddled his players together through which he said explosively:

"We're shooting ourselves in the foot right now down there by not finishing posessions with defensive rebounds or grabbing loose things. Any transition offense, we're all just running to the three-point line instead of running for dunks. Run for dunks, it'll open up threes."

Take a look at Dan Hurley's note-worthy huddle from the Butler win below:

With a motivating speech by their main tactician, the Huskies went on a tear, leading by as much as double digits, 15 points, in the first half. Although the Bulldogs cut down a nine-marker deficit and held a tight two-point lead in the dying minutes of regulation, veteran forward Alex Karaban would nail a jumper to send the game into overtime at 68-all.

UConn's inspired peformance was capped off by sophomore guard Solo Ball's career-high of 23 points to go along with four rebounds and six assists. After an overall up and down campaign as defending national champions, Hurley and the Huskies may have found their groove as of late with back-to-back conference triumphs, leading to a 15-5 overall record so far.

Tarris Reed Jr. almost accumulated for all of UConn's bench points on Tuesday

Alongside Solo Ball and Alex Karaban, third-year big man Tarris Reed Jr. showed out for the Huskies' sixth conference victory of the campaign. Besides second-year player Jayden Ross's two points, Reed Jr. almost had all of the team's bench points with 14 markers on 6-for-10 shooting along with seven rebounds, an assist, two steals and two blocks.

On the season, the St. Louis, Missouri native is averaging 9.5 points, 7.3 boards and 1.7 blocks per game. As a transferee from the Michigan Wolverines, Reed Jr. was not a part of the national title runs that Hurley and the Huskies have had recently, and is looking to be a big part of another potential NCAA tournament bid come March.

With only Reed Jr. making an impact off the bench against Butler, Hurley may need to extract more production from the rest of his second stringers. They now hope to gain more momentum on Saturday, Jan. 25, when they visit the Xavier Musketeers.