"Weeks not days": Dan Hurley seems confident despite major Liam McNeeley injury setback, cites experiences with Donovan Clingan and Stephon Castle

UConn coach Dan Hurley expressed optimism about his team's ability to adapt to situations after he gave an update on Liam McNeeley's injury on Saturday. The injury will see McNeeley miss "weeks, not days" according to Hurley.

"He's (McNeeley) got the high ankle sprain," Hurley said. "So it's going to be not days, it'll be weeks for him. So hopefully, if things were, I'd imagine, to go great with the injury (recovery), he'll see, maybe some of January? Maybe at the end of January? But it'll be weeks not days." (0:02)

Hurley was asked by a reporter if it could have been worse, to which he responded optimistically and cited his team's history of having to deal with key players missing time due to injury.

"It could always be (worse)," Hurley said. "We've been in this position before, you know, we dealt with it with Donovan [Clingan], we dealt with it with Steph [Castle], we've dealt with it with Andre Jackson."

Dan Hurley sees opportunity for other players to step up in McNeeley's absence

Dan Hurley is aware that McNeeley’s injury makes things tougher for his team. However, this season, the Huskies have already beaten Baylor without Alex Karaban, and Xavier without Samson Johnson. Thus, they have shown the ability to step up when key players have been out.

"It's a chance for Jaylin Stewart," Hurley said speaking about players who could step up in McNeeley's absence. "It's a chance for Jayden Ross. It's a chance for Aidan Mahaney. It's a chance for every other player just to play better. It's a chance for us to defend and rebound better and win that way." (1:36)

For UConn, the month of January stood out in the past two seasons, for their struggles in 2023 and their success in 2024. Both seasons ended with championships.

For now, the focus for Dan Hurley and the Huskies will be on handling the games in front of them. In their first showing without McNeeley, they went well as they beat Providence 87-84 in a tense battle.