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UConn coach Dan Hurley ejected from Marquette loss with less than one second left

Barkley-Truaxby: Barkley Truax6 hours agoBarkleyTruax

Dan Hurley was ejected from UConn‘s 66-62 upset loss against Marquette in the final second of regulation on Saturday. The Huskies had the chance to tie or win the game at the buzzer and following a miss from UConn’s Silas Demary, Hurley appeared to get right in the ear of the nearest official.

That happened to be John Gaffney, who was officiating the final play from the sideline nearest Hurley. From the broadcast, it appeared as though Hurley made contact with him. If contact is made, the Big East has the option to take action on the matter.

It didn’t take long for Hurley to get thrown out from there, which resulted in a pair of free throws for Marquette’s Charlie Ross. He sank them both, icing the game and possibly ruining the Huskies chance at a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament later this month. Watch the full moment transpire below:

During Demary’s game-tying try, he made contact with Golden Eagles forward Ben Gold, who held his hands up and 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.

The loss drops UConn to 27-4 on the season, including a 17-3 record against the Big East. UConn’s loss 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.

Just 62 points is the lowest-scoring output for UConn all season long. Their previous low was 67 points in a four-point loss to Arizona in November.

The Big East Tournament will be set following Saturday night’s matchup between Providence and Georgetown. Action is set to run beginning Wednesday, March 11, through Saturday, March 14. As the No. 2 seed, UConn will get a bye through to Tuesday, where they’ll play the winner of the game between the No. 7 and 10 seeds.