UConn coach Dan Hurley received two technical fouls and was ejected in the final second of an upset loss at Marquette on Saturday. Hours later, he was fined $25,000 by the Big East Conference for unsportsmanlike conduct.
The fourth-ranked Huskies (27-4, 17-3 Big East) fell 68-62 to the Golden Eagles (12-19, 7-13) in Milwaukee, with Hurley leaving the court after protesting what he felt was a missed foul call.
Marquette was leading 64-62 when UConn’s Silas Demary Jr. attempted a contested jumper in the paint by defender Ben Gold. When no foul was called, Hurley went up to official John Gaffney and yelled at him that Demary was fouled.
There was speculation during the game broadcast that Hurley had made contact with Gaffney, contributing to the ejection. Hurley later disputed that, and the conference said later in a statement that “a review by the conference office of the officials’ game report and available game footage could not confirm physical contact.”
“You could screenshot whatever you want to screenshot,” Hurley said. “I don’t feel like I made any contact with John. I don’t believe I did.”
The league’s statement did say that Hurley “failed to leave the court in a timely manner” after his ejection.
“We hold our coaches to high standards of sportsmanlike conduct during game competition, and inappropriate interactions with our officials will not be tolerated,” Big East Commissioner Val Ackerman said in a statement on Saturday night.
The Golden Eagles’ Chase Ross, who rebounded Demary’s miss and was fouled, went to the line with 1 second left and made four of six free-throw attempts (including four for two technicals) for the 68-62 final.
UConn, in losing on Saturday, failed to earn a share of the Big East regular-season title with No. 18 St. John’s (25-6, 18-2). The Red Storm already had clinched the top seed in the conference tournament, which starts Wednesday in New York.
The Huskies, as the No. 2 seed, face the winner of seventh-seeded Marquette and 10th-seeded Xavier in the quarterfinals on Thursday.
