It is Thanksgiving week, but UConn have put up a Halloween horror show in Maui. The program that has appeared invincible in the last two seasons, tripped, fell and finally crashed in three games at the Maui Invitational and faces the possibility of going from No. 2 in the nation to unranked next week. The latest low point came at the hands of Dayton on Wednesday, who handed them their worst defeat since 2018 and Dan Hurley was once again at a loss to explain the defeat.

For a team chasing a historic three-peat, this run of three straight defeats to unranked teams is more than a cause for concern. “Right now we’re a shell of who we’ve been,” is how Hurley described his side after their 67-85 loss to Dayton. The fact that the HC didn’t criticize the referring decisions on this occasion as he did for the first two losses, suggests that he was at the end of his wits. 

UConn faced Memphis in a thrilling overtime opening game that ended in a controversial 99-97 loss. It took a turn when an over-the-back offensive foul was called on forward Liam McNeeley during crunch time.

But what made it more problematic was Dan Hurley’s reaction. He dropped to his knees in protest, got hit with a technical foul, and watched Memphis cash in on free throws. “That was a joke,” the head coach said post-game, clearly fuming. “There was a player on Memphis that made a half-a-s effort to rebound… For that call to be made at that point of the game was a complete joke.” The very next day, the Huskies fell again—this time to Colorado in another nail-biter. 

The Buffs edged UConn 73-72, thanks to an off-balance layup by Andrej Jakimovski with just eight seconds left. UConn had led by nine early in the second half, but their defense fell apart. “At halftime, I felt like we were going to do what we do at UConn… and it just didn’t happen,” Hurley admitted.

While the defeats to Memphis and Colorado were hard to take, the humbling by Dayton was so stunning that Hurley bent down, and put his head into his hands, seemingly at the disbelief of what just happened as the time expired.

Dayton handed UConn an 18-point defeat in the seventh-place game. The Flyers dominated, with Enoch Cheeks dropping 20 points and the Huskies looking completely out of sync. UConn finished 8th in an eight-team tournament. The team that had one non-conference loss in the past two seasons managed to triple that number in three days at the Maui Invitational. UConn is used to making history and records, but this time name stood along with some unwanted firsts.

They became the first team since Louisville in 1986-87 to lose three games in three days to unranked opponents as a top-two team. The Huskies are the first top-two team in the polls to lose three games in succession since Arizona, ranked No.2 in 2017. While this run of results puts pressure on Hurley, the players didn’t cover themselves in glory.

Dayton went 13-for-15 from the free throw line in the first half and 14-for-15 in the second, while UConn could only manage 7-for-11 from the stripe for the entire game.

Star Liam McNeeley, who had shined in the earlier games, went scoreless against Dayton. Zero points. On 0-for-9 shooting. Three straight losses, a plummet from #2, and fans in full meltdown mode on social media. 

Fans pile on as Dan Hukey and co.’s Maui collapse sends their ‘blue blood’ status into question

After UConn’s collapse at the Maui Invitational, social media is lit with reactions ranging from critiques to outright mockery. A fan wrote, “Fakest ‘blue blood’ of all time.” Blue bloods are usually the NCAA’s elite programs like Kansas, Duke, North Carolina, Kentucky, and, yes, UConn. But most blue bloods are holding their own. 

Sure, Duke lost, but it was against another blue bloods (Kansas’s 75-72 win on Nov 11 and Kentucky’s 77-72 win on Tuesday), so it’s not exactly shameful. UConn, though? That’s a different story. Then there’s this jab by a fan: “Good… they were in the way of Auburn and Kansas.” 

Both teams are on fire. Auburn is undefeated at 7-0, and Kansas has won all six of their games, including a statement win over Duke. With UConn faltering, their paths to dominance just got a little clearer. One fan even dropped a GIF saying, “Please, God, let this happen because it would be so funny.” 

Apart from failing to put up the performances expected of them, the Huskies were also hurt by a lack of discipline. They called for 72 fouls over the three games while their opponents were whistled for only 48 fouls, leading to a 98-48 free throw discrepancy.

Watching UConn potentially tumble from #2 to unranked would be a wild story. However, realistically, as another fan speculated, they’ll likely end up somewhere between 15-20, but the idea of such a dramatic fall has fans cracking up. Another fan chimed in with, “You mean UConn has a year or two of national success and then disappears again? Shocking.” 

Does this mean UConn’s chances for a three-peat are bleak? The last time the Huskies lost three in a row was two seasons ago when they suffered five defeats in January. A couple of months later, they were national champions. So all is not lost. UConn has had a phenomenal two-year stretch, winning back-to-back national titles. But these defeats serve as a harsh reminder that it won’t be easy to go three in a row. 

A fan reacted to UConn’s poor run of form by writing, “Finally,” perhaps expecting their downfall this season after their run of dominance.

But UConn has the ability to bounce back, and fast. For a team with such elite talent and back-to-back championships, this was a shocker. But who knows? Maybe this was just a bad week. Either way, Dan Hurley & Co. has a lot of work to do if they want to get back to being the powerhouse they were.