Growth goes the dynamite!
A hyped-up Dan Hurley head-butted UConn guard Aidan Mahaney after the junior related on back-to-back makes an attempt from behind the arc because the No. 25 Huskies took down the Fifteenth-ranked Baylor Bears on Wednesday.
The dome-on-dome contact, which has been met with a mix of intrigue and concern, occurred with about ten minutes remaining within the first half.
The Bears had jumped out to an early 19-8 lead, however a 10-2 streak that included Mahaney’s two three-pointers introduced the reigning nationwide champions inside three and compelled a Baylor timeout.
As the house followers went right into a frenzy and the Bears went to remember themselves on the sideline, Mahaney strutted as much as head coach Hurley. The 2 shared one thing between a hug and a chest bump, which was adopted promptly by the head-butt.
“Then [Mahaney] punched me in the chest hard … I think I might have cracked a rib,” Hurley quipped after the sport.
Any ache, by then, had been absolved.
After clawing their method again into the sport within the first half, the Huskies hardly regarded again. The Bears held a tenuous one-point lead when the groups went to their locker room on the break however had been outscored 40-35 within the second half.
Hurley described Mahaney’s nine-point efficiency after the sport by telling reporters, “He rose like a Phoenix out of the ashes,” while flapping his palms like wings.
The 21-year-old mentioned of their interplay, “I felt like we were just in that moment, there was nothing planned, that was just natural energy and aggression coming from both of us.”
“This is one of the things that I couldn’t wait to get into over here, having a coach like that, that gets fired up just like the players do,” Mahaney added.
Followers and detractors chimed in:
“Is this normal?” requested one.
“Dan Hurley skull crush me into another dimension,” wrote one other.
In his seventh 12 months main UConn’s males’s basketball workforce, Hurley’s Huskies have gained six of their first 9 — none greater than Wednesday’s takedown, their first over a ranked opponent in 2024.
And this one couldn’t have come at a greater time.
UConn went winless on the Maui Invitational, dropping contests towards the Memphis Tigers, the Colorado Buffaloes and the Dayton Flyers — all of whom had been unranked. Hurley caught some flack through the event for his temperament and physique language.
Throughout the 99-97 loss towards Memphis, the top coach drew a technical foul for arguing a foul in additional time.
With the win on Wednesday, although, the electrical manufacturing unit that’s UConn basketball is simply heating up.
Foreheads beware.
