Going back to the start of this college basketball season, Uconn’s head coach knew what his team was getting into. “The season that we’re about to embark on is rare in terms of what we can accomplish.” Well, after etching their name as just the eighth program to win an NCAA tournament in consecutive seasons, Dan Hurley’s Huskies are on a quest to become the first team ever to claim a three-peat this year.

Although they have made it 4 out of 4 before boarding their flight to Hawaii, Dan Hurley wasn’t pleased with his team’s display on Tuesday night. Getting the better of East Texas A&M 81-46, Hurley called out his boys’ performance on the post-game presser, “Comically bad rebounding in the second half. So far below-standard, ball security throughout the game. It’s been a long time since we’ve been that bad. We were up 37 with 12 minutes to go. And it turned into a debacle out there.” So what happened that got Hurley criticizing his players publicly?

For the final 20 minutes, the Huskies turned the ball over 19 times. And their shot from a 3-point range dropped to an embarrassing low of 29%. This sudden collapse at the final stages got Hurley pointing out their rebounding horrors, “You can have a bad shooting night. But you can’t turn the ball over 19 times in a game like this. Here.” Now, moving on from their lows against a team that just changed their name from Texas A&M Commerce to East Texas. The Field of 68 podcasts, featuring Rob Dauster and former basketball player Jerel McNeal, cast doubts over the Huskies’ potential to see through the Maui Invitational.

When Dauster asked McNeal about seeing Dan Hurley this frustrated with a 35-point win. McNeal said it’s all part of his master plan walking into Maui, “I’m anticipating this is all a part of his master plan, and you know man because he’s had great coaches in his life as well, sometimes these happen. They aren’t where he wants them to be or where they need to be, probably for them for you know, walking in the Maui.” Well, this would be just the fifth time in their history that UConn would visit Maui.

They would be meeting four of the top 10 teams, starting with Memphis on Monday. And the team they would be coming up against is 3-0 themselves at the start of their season. So, it remains to be seen whether the Huskies can continue their quest for a three-peat this season because the next few weeks would be a hell of a challenge for them.

Maui Invitational: It is no joke

After blowing off their first four cupcake opponents, the Huskies are set to enter a difficult stretch in their potential historic season. And their forward, Alex Karaban, is not ready to take this challenge lightly, “Maui is no joke.” The Huskies could face North Carolina, Iowa State, Auburn, or Dayton, starting with the Tigers. As per Tigers players, it would be an eighth-team invitational where preparation would play a major factor. Their senior forward, Nicholas Jourdain, is already warning his teammates, “You’ve got to be mentally and physically on point going for it.”

But their head coach, Penny Hardaway, is gearing up for his toughest challenge yet in Memphis, “Maybe my toughest stretch in my coaching career at Memphis. It’s heavy hitter after heavy hitter. To me, this is the type of stuff you live for when you’re a competitor.” Hardaway and Hurley will prepare their teams for Maui’s challenge. It would be a bigger task for the Huskies, who are on their way to rewrite the NCAA basketball history books.

So, can they survive the next few weeks? Or will it be too much for them to handle? Only time will tell as the Maui Invitational gets underway next week.