UConn playing for yet another title, but facing a juggernaut Michigan team, it’ll have to be much better

INDIANAPOLIS — Shortly after his team grinded out a 71-62 victory over Illinois to advance to Monday’s national title game, UConn coach Dan Hurley couldn’t resist poking fun at those who picked against the Huskies.

Unprompted during his press conference, Hurley pointed out that oddsmakers anointed Illinois a 1.5-point favorite over UConn even though the Huskies beat the Illini by 13 points five months ago. Hurley also noted that he saw more prognosticators picking Illinois than UConn when he flipped on the TV prior to Saturday’s game.

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“I had to throw some shade about that,” Hurley said.

If Hurley thought the media provided bulletin-board material before Saturday’s game, wait until he sees the skepticism his team will face entering Monday night’s title game. Yes, UConn is an astounding 13-1 in Final Four games in program history. And yes, nobody with half a brain would count out a Dan Hurley-coached team in the NCAA tournament. But the Huskies will have to play a heck of a lot better than they did Saturday just to keep it close against No. 1 Michigan.

UConn struggled to put away Illinois despite the Illini shooting an anemic 6-for-26 from behind the arc and making sloppy mistakes they hadn’t made all season. How many times has Keaton Wagler airballed a wide-open step-back 3-pointer like he did Saturday? How many times has forward David Mirkovic turned the ball over dribbling it off his shoe?

The Huskies also benefited from some serendipitous bounces at one end of the floor and some demonic rim-outs at the other. Braylon Mullins banked in a 3-pointer that extended UConn’s lead to 10 in the final minute of the first half. Then Solo Ball sank a second-half 3-pointer that bounced impossibly high off the back rim and fell in. Meanwhile, Andrej Stojakovic provided a snapshot of Illinois’ shooting night when his second-half driving layup rolled all the way around and hung tantalizingly on the back of the rim before finally falling off the mark.

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Author : Jeff Eisenberg

Publish date : 2026-04-05 03:35:00

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