After a 79-75 win over Georgetown on Feb. 14, Hurley and Hoyas coach Ed Cooley were surprised by the lack of enthusiasm in Storrs.
‘Very tough place to play. Honestly, I was surprised there was empty seats up in the section,’ Cooley told reporters after the game. ‘I mean, you’ve got a national championship team. This place should be sold out every day. That actually shocked me … This place should’ve been bouncing off the wall on a Saturday night with a team that’s out there like that. That’s just what I saw.’
Hurley had no interest in disabusing Cooley of that notion. He also called out the UConn faithful for its showing on Valentine’s Day in a lengthy response.
‘I’ve kind of given up on [hyping up the crowd],’ Hurley said when he was asked about Cooley’s comments. ‘I’ve done that. I don’t get the same response.’ He added UConn is the self-appointed ‘Basketball Capital of the World’ and it doesn’t reflect that.
After rattling off his impressive resume with UConn, Hurley mentioned a few places that do live up to their crowd billings. ‘The section behind our basket was empty,’ he said. ‘It should be a madhouse when we play here at the ‘Basketball Capital of the World’ for our games … Xavier’s a madhouse when we go there. Creighton is a madhouse. When we play St. John’s now in the Big East road game, that’s not Storrs South no more. That environment that we played in was a serious, serious nasty environment. Intense environment. We were at a major disadvantage in terms of the atmosphere. I could go to Kansas and some of these different places that we play.’
Hurley signed off by saying he doesn’t question his own standing.
‘I got some [expletive] equity,’ he said. ‘I got two national championships here in the last three years. And we’ve given you the season that there’s a lot of programs across the country that’s fans wish they had going. So I’m not doing that anymore. I ask the players to try to do it. You don’t come to watch the game, it’s not a [expletive] social event … It needs to be a madhouse.’