Dan Hurley ejection: Seth Davis questions coach over contact with official

UConn head coach Dan Hurley was ejected in the final seconds of Saturday’s shocking 68-62 loss to Marquette. It appeared as if Hurley made contact with referee John Gaffney, which led to the two-time National Championship winning coach getting the boot.

The Q2 loss could be extremely costly for UConn‘s No. 1 seed hopes. Immediately following the loss, ESPN’s Joe Lunardi slid the Huskies down to a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament. Florida was elevated to the No. 1 seedline.

CBS’ Seth Davis chimed in on Hurley’s contact with the referee postgame. “There was contact between Hurley and ref John Gaffney,” Davis wrote. “Big East office is going to have to take a real hard look at that.”

There was contact between Hurley and ref John Gaffney. Big East office is going to have to take a real hard look at that.

— Seth Davis (@SethDavisHoops) March 7, 2026

Star guard Silas Demary drove to the basket for the potential game-tying layup and made contact with Golden Eagles forward Ben Gold, but no foul call was called on the play. It’s unclear if this is what Hurley was arguing about. But whatever it was, boiled over onto the official right before the final buzzer.

“I didn’t think I bumped the ref,” Hurley said postgame. “I thought I got close, to like, yelling at John. If John thinks I bumped him, then he’ll say I bumped him. But I don’t think I bumped the official. I think I yelled into the back of his head ‘foul, foul’. And then yeah, the officiating for us… it is what it is in this league. I’m not gonna comment on that.”

The loss drops UConn to 27-4 on the season, including a 17-3 record against the Big East. UConn’s loss also allows St. John’s (25-6, 18-2 Big East) to outright claim the 2026 Big East Conference regular season title. The Huskies will be the No. 2 seed in the upcoming Big East Conference Tournament as a result.

“Watching @UConnHuskies vs @MarquetteMBB right now. Coach Hurley just got ejected with 1.0 left. He was right to be furious on the NO-Call,” ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith tweeted shortly after the play. “The ejection was justified because you can’t touch the referee, but that should’ve been a foul for Demary, who would’ve had a chance to tie the game at the FT line. Should’ve been called.”

The Huskies are headed back to the NCAA Tournament, looking to win their third National Championship in the past four years.