What Dan Hurley says could doom this UConn season

NEW YORK – There is one burning question around the UConn men’s basketball program, and it has gone unanswered for most of the year.

What can be done to limit turnovers?

It has been a recurring issue that the team and the coaching staff hasn’t yet been able to solve. The Huskies have had at least 10 giveaways in 20 of 31 regular season games; at least 15 in eight. In their three losses in Big East play, they had 15 turnovers at St. John’s, only five in the defensive disaster against Creighton, and 16 in the regular season finale against Marquette.

The most alarming part is that the turnovers, 342 on the season, 11 per game, aren’t all coming against great defensive teams. A lot of them have been unforced.

“The turnovers have been just a nightmare for this team,” coach Dan Hurley said after a productive Tuesday practice, before the team made its trip to New York for the Big East Tournament. “It could potentially be this team’s undoing.”

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The blame cannot be placed on one player or position group. All five starters average at least one turnover per game.

“It’s tough when you get like four turnovers from one guy, three from another, two from this guy, two from him, sprinkle in some ones and now you’ve got 14, 15, 16 turnovers. And we can’t overcome that,” Hurley said. “The players have got to be more disciplined, they can’t just take the ball and turn it over… We should be past that. Should be not dribbling into bad spots, not trying to throw a pass into the middle third of the court without location and accuracy and pace. It’s things that we should be past… We gift possessions away, and championship teams don’t do that. That’s why we don’t have a championship.”

“I think at times, including myself, we’re not seeing the initial opening right away and we wait too long, or we throw it late and that causes a turnover,” captain Alex Karaban said. “We definitely could be more aggressive in transition, we definitely need more free points and to really just play off our defense at times.”

Hurley came into this season with a goal of playing more off-script offense and he feels the team has reflected that. But poor defense at times has limited opportunities in transition on the run and the Huskies haven’t always been able to find the quickest, easiest scoring option.

So, what does UConn have to do in order to put a run together in March?

“Just make smarter decisions,” said point guard Silas Demary Jr., who leads the Big East in assists at 6.5 per game and is third in assist-to-turnover ratio at 2.7. “I think sometimes when teams get up underneath us, we kind of get sped up at times. Instead of trying to run the play sometimes, we could just go make a play instead of trying to run the play all the way through. We can’t be so robotic. Sometimes if things are taken away, we’ve just got to go make a play and live with the decision and the things that happen with it.”

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Which is the more favorable quarterfinal opponent, Marquette or Xavier?

The obvious answer is Xavier, who the Huskies beat by 33 in their first matchup, and by 32 in the second. But the team wouldn’t mind avenging Saturday’s loss at Marquette, which cost them a regular season championship.

Hurley was disappointed that his ejection with one second left on the game clock Saturday didn’t allow him to take part in the handshake line against a Marquette program he respects more than any other. He did have a moment with Ben Gold and Chase Ross in the back hallways of Fiserv Forum once the dust settled, where he congratulated them and said they deserved a normal ending to their Senior Day game. And he called coach Shaka Smart and left a voicemail with a similar message.

Marquette and Xavier will meet in the 6:30 p.m. first round game on Wednesday to earn a shot at the Huskies in the quarterfinal. They split their season series.

“I don’t have a preference,” Hurley said. “This time of year, you’re trying to play whoever’s in front of you. For me, I enjoy taking the court versus Marquette because of the respect level that we both have for each other and the cultures. Whether it’s Xavier or Marquette, it’s kind of a weird turnaround because you literally just got done with Marquette, so you don’t really have a lot of scout to do of Marquette. So now you’re doing Xavier for a couple days because the guys are so familiar with Marquette.”

What to know

Site: Madison Square Garden, New York, New York

Time: 7 p.m. Thursday.

Records: No. 2 seed UConn: 27-4 (17-3 Big East), No. 7 seed Marquette: 12-19 (7-13) or No. 10 seed Xavier: 14-17 (6-13)

Season series: UConn vs. Marquette: 1-1 (73-57 win at Gampel Pavilion Jan. 4, 68-62 loss at Fiserv Forum March 7), UConn vs. Xavier: 2-0 (90-67 win at Cintas Center Dec. 31, 92-60 win at PeoplesBank Arena Feb. 3).

Big East Tournament history: UConn vs. Marquette: 1-1 (2024 championship game victory, 2023 semifinal loss), UConn vs. Xavier: 1-0 (2024 quarterfinal victory).

TV: FS1 – Gus Johnson, Bill Raftery, Allison Williams

Radio: UConn Sports Network on FOX Sports Radio 97-9 – Mike Crispino, Wayne Norman