Final Four notes: Why Dan Hurley thinks he has the answer to UConn's shooting woes

INDIANAPOLIS — Dan Hurley thinks he and his staff have figured out a tactical adjustment that will help the UConn men turn around their shooting struggles at the Final Four.

The Huskies saw only five of their 25 attempts (20%) fall from beyond the arc in the first round of the tournament against Furman, then got up to 33% with eight makes on 24 attempts against UCLA and made nine of 21 in the Sweet 16 against Michigan State — that 42.9% clip was the team’s best mark since its final home game against Seton Hall on Feb. 28.

But the numbers dipped dramatically in the Duke game, starting just 1 for 18 from 3 before UConn finished the game with four makes on its last five attempts, including the 35-foot heave from Braylon Mullins to pull off the improbable comeback in the final second.

Outside of Alex Karaban — who also struggled and made 1 of 6 against the Blue Devils — the team has shot just 15 for 62 (24%) from 3-point range in the tournament.

Hurley gave the team a day off on Monday to catch up on sleep and appreciate the euphoria. That part of it had to fade by the time players returned to practice on Tuesday and started their preparation on Illinois.

But the confidence from the way the game ended will absolutely travel with the Huskies.

“It’s always best to have people playing well going in, confident players, so it’s great the last shot Braylon took, probably good for his confidence going in there that way. But I would say that I’m just really happy that we’re not playing like (Wednesday) night or Thursday,” Hurley said Tuesday. “The emotional high of that experience, it’s good we don’t play until Saturday.”

Shot-making will be critical on Saturday, when the Huskies take on No. 3 seed Illinois for the second time this season. The Illini are ranked No. 1 in offensive efficiency by KenPom and take more than half of their shots from beyond the 3-point line, where they’ve made 10.7 per game (No. 17 nationally) at a 34.8% clip (No. 134) on the season.

UConn has the firepower to match it — and it did when the teams met in November, making 10 of 28 to Illinois’ 6 of 29.

And Hurley believes he has something up his sleeve to provide his shooters even more open looks at the Final Four.

“We’ve looked at some things that I think have given us a lot of hope. We’re gonna do some things that tactically we’re not doing for our shooters, that I think we’ll be able to do in Indianapolis to get them even better looks. I think there’s some fundamental, tactical, strategic things that could get Solo (Ball) and Braylon and AK even better looks, especially Solo and Braylon,” Hurley said. “We’re excited to try to implement that for those guys. But these guys are awesome shooters, man. They’re great shooters, hopefully now the pressure’s off, they could just relax and hopefully it starts raining threes. … Can’t believe I just said ‘raining threes.' ”

Karaban’s been there, done that

Karaban will be the most experienced player at the Final Four by a significant margin. The only players who’ve won more games than he has (17-1 as a starter in the NCAA Tournament) are Duke legends Christian Laettner (21) and Bobby Hurley (18).

Two more wins and he’ll pass his coach’s older brother for the second-most all time and, more importantly, become the first player since John Wooden’s UCLA dynasty more than half a century ago to win three national championships in a four-year career.

The experience of having been there, played on multiple elevated courts in multiple NFL stadiums and seen all the Final Four hoopla, is invaluable.

“Having been to the Final Four I think is a major advantage, just knowing the arena, the depth perception, all of the activities that surround the Final Four, the different media obligations. There’s so much more stuff that gets amplified when you get to the Final Four. You can’t lose sight of what the main vision is, you can’t get distracted easily by a fan fest thing that we’ll go to or any of that stuff. Really keeping the main thing the main thing and talking to my teammates as well about what’s expected,” Karaban said.

The junior trio of Solo Ball, Jayden Ross and Jaylin Stewart experienced the 2024 national championship run courtside, too, but none played more than seven minutes at the Final Four. Karaban has played 129.

“AK told me this is gonna be like no other thing you’ve ever seen in your life. He said so many people, fans, media,” Tarris Reed Jr. said. “I want to see it so bad because you dream of this, bro. Like I’m a little kid, I never thought I would be in this position. I’m walking in answered prayers, it’s a blessing.”

Apple doesn’t fall far from the tree

There were dozens of great reactions to Mullins’ shot, but none better than Dan Hurley’s parents, Christine and Bob Sr., who were sitting behind the team’s bench and as shocked as anyone.

It doesn’t take an experienced lip-reader to make out Christine’s “Holy (bleeping bleep!)” or Bob Sr.’s “Holy (bleep!) We (bleeping) won!”

“It just explains things for me, what you see. It shouldn’t still be an excuse at 53, your parents. Grow up, people. But yeah, you see the reaction, just how authentic, how personal the games are to our family,” Dan Hurley said. “We were raised in this game, the games are everything. If you know the devastation of losing games, my family understands that. Unless you’ve coached or played at this level, you don’t understand the level of devastation after a loss and the level of relief or joy, and how thin the line is at times. ... It consumes everyone around you. Your whole family feels it when you’re devastated.”

Bob Sr. told The Courant shortly after the moment that he’d thought, like Mullins, that the shot tied the game because the score wasn’t posted clearly in Capital One Arena and “the moment was so surreal.”

What did it take to make that comeback?

“Well, you have to have the guys believe in everything you’re trying to get them to do, because you can’t afford to make mistakes anymore when you get down that much that is as good as Duke,” said the Hall of Famer. “That’s a tremendous team with a group of guys who are gonna play in the NBA. But they whittled it away and then they got to making some difficult shots at the rim, I thought Reed did a great job around the basket changing shots, and then we made a couple of threes late. People would say the law of averages was certainly with us.”