HARTFORD — When the final buzzer sounded and UConn came out victorious in its season opener against Gardner-Webb, Dan Hurley reached a milestone accomplishment.
Hurley, who is now in his ninth year with the program, earned win No. 200 as head coach of the UConn Huskies. He sits third on the school’s career wins list behind Jim Calhoun and Hugh Greer.
It’s the type of accomplishment that only adds to Hurley’s legacy. One that already includes two national titles and three NCAA championship game appearances.
So surely, he took a moment to soak it all in, right?
Wrong.
“I took the 200-win ball they gave me, and I threw it out the door into the hallway,” Hurley said after Monday’s 86-46 win over Gardner-Webb. “I don’t want that (expletive). I don’t care. What am I going to do with that?”
The comments illuminate what Hurley’s ultimate goal has always been.
It’s not that Hurley isn’t proud of what he’s built in Storrs. It’s that he’s too consumed with what’s next.
The only thing that matters is the one thing that is still ahead: a national championship.
And the path that Hurley took to get here has made him even hungrier to add to a résumé that would already put him in the hall of fame.
“I wasn’t some preordained golden boy coach that started getting these big jobs at a young age. I grinded it out at the college level,” Hurley said. “I grinded it out at Wagner. I had to go to a mid-major. I’ve only really been coaching at this big level for nine years.”
Looking at Monday’s box score, one would think the Huskies played a dominant game from start to finish.
The Huskies beat Gardner-Webb by 40 points. They outrebounded the Runnin’ Bulldogs 46-28, held them to 26% shooting from the field and turned 17 turnovers into 14 points.
But the message from Hurley after the game wasn’t about how well he thought his team played. It was about all the things he thought they didn’t do.
“It’s probably a frustrating game,” Hurley said. “I think we’re a better 3-point shooting team than 9-for-29. I think we’re a better free-throw shooting team than 15-for-24. I hated the way we ended the first half. I thought that was really low level. And then to get only nine offensive rebounds in the game, it’s really disappointing.”
While the comments might seem over the top, Hurley’s words were necessary.
UConn will get its first real test on Friday when the Huskies play Michigan — a rematch of last season’s national title game — at TD Garden in Boston. Hyping up a game in which they were supposed to win could easily lead to a letdown against the team that got the best of UConn in the biggest game of the year last season.
The level of hunger was felt in the locker room when the team attempted to present Hurley with his 200th-win ball after the game.
“He came in for his little postgame speech and after we were like, ‘hold on, we got something for you coach,'” senior forward Jayden Ross said. “We presented the ball and gave him an applause and then he just kind of looked at all of us funny. He said, ‘I’m here for bigger stuff than this.’ Then he just chucked the ball out of the door like it was worthless.
“So, it just shows where he’s at. It was interesting.”
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The 200-win ball is somewhere in the bowels of PeoplesBank Arena, or maybe in a trash can. Hurley doesn’t know and frankly doesn’t care.
What he does care about is what’s next. The team that stood between him and winning a third national championship last season is back.
The only thing that matters is getting win No. 201. And that starts on Friday vs Michigan.
This article originally appeared on The Bulletin: Dan Hurley chucks 200th-win ball as UConn men’s basketball eyes bigger goals
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