Lack of discipline haunts UConn men's basketball team in 'humbling trip' to Maui Invitational

LAHAINA, Hawaii – Dan Hurley didn’t have much to say after the UConn men’s basketball team lost its third consecutive game in the Maui Invitational, all to unranked opponents, including Dayton in Wednesday night’s battle for seventh place.

And while there was another significant free throw disparity in the 85-67 loss, Hurley couldn’t put it all on the referees. There wasn’t one whistle (or non-whistle) at the end that helped determine the outcome this time. And, dealing with the same issues for a third game in a row, the Huskies’ coach had to point the finger back at his team … and at himself.

UConn’s defense on the island was far below its standard, and it completely fell apart in the final minutes as Dayton’s lead swelled to as many as 20 points.

“I mean, it’s so many things. It’s so many things,” Hurley said. “There’s discipline mistakes, which is bad coaching, just not being in the right spots. There’s obviously the free throw discrepancy thing that’s gone on the whole time we’re here, which was a byproduct of a lack of discipline and other factors. It’s scary that a five-point game with five minutes to go turned into that.”

The Huskies only led for a minute and 41 seconds on Wednesday night. Inexperience showed as players often found themselves out of position, overhelping and fouling or leaving a man open for a clean shot. With quick turnarounds, three games in three days, the same issues persisted throughout.

Dayton went 13-for-15 from the free throw line in the first half and 14-for-15 in the second, while UConn was just 7-for-11 from the stripe for the game. Hurley made a noticeable effort to calm his badgering of the referees after the costly technical foul he picked up in the tournament’s opening game against Memphis, which led to a 99-97 loss in overtime.

“When you come to a tournament like this and it’s three games in three days, it starts to go bad, there’s no way of fixing it ’cause there’s no time to. You just have to deal with the situation,” Hurley said. “It was a humbling trip obviously for the program that’s accomplished what we’ve accomplished.”

UConn was called for a total of 72 fouls – most of which were legitimate. Opponents were whistled just 48 times and benefitted from a 98-48 free throw discrepancy.

The program’s identity – toughness, rebounding, relentless effort – was lost in Maui.

UConn was only outrebounded by 10 or more on just three occasions over the last two seasons. But the Huskies were minus-16 on the glass Wednesday night, and hadn’t been outrebounded by that many since losing to Creighton, 59-56, in the 2021 Big East Tournament (minus-17).

So how do the Huskies regroup?

They had a long flight back to Connecticut late Wednesday night – or early Thursday morning – which Alex Karaban joined after being evaluated for a head injury at a Maui hospital after the game. Jet lag will have to be shaken before Saturday’s return to action in a buy game against Maryland Eastern Shore in Hartford. It should be an opportunity to grab some positive momentum and get back into the win column – UMES (2-8) is ranked No. 360 of 362 Division I teams by KenPom.

“I just think we need to get back and we need to regroup both from a psyche standpoint and come up with a different plan defensively for the most part,” Hurley said.

UConn can start to salvage its nonconference resumze when it hosts Baylor at Gampel Pavilion on Wednesday before returning on the road for a trip to Texas the following week. The nonconference slate closes in a return to “Storrs South” against Gonzaga at Madison Square Garden Dec. 14.

But the winless trip to paradise will certainly carry a sting.

“This UConn team that has lost three in a row out here is not the UConn team that we’ve been. It’s the UConn team that we are right now that I think is going to get a lot better,” Hurley said. “We’re relying on a lot of young players. The burden of wearing the uniform after back-to-backs right now looks like it’s weighing heavy on the group. I think right now we’ve just got to try to focus on becoming a good team and becoming a tougher team.

“Right now we’re a shell of what we’ve been.”