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UConn ahead Alex Karaban echoed coach Dan Hurley’s description of the Huskies’ performance at the Maui Invitational, saying it was a terrible experience.
The team posted a video to its YouTube page titled “Marching On: Season 3” and for the first episode, UConn recapped the games before the start of the Big East regular season. It featured the games from their season opener to the last non-conference game against Gonzaga.
Karaban said the experience was heartbreaking and the results of the tournament were disappointing. It made them realize that the team’s journey to its third straight national championship was not smooth sailing.
“Maui didn’t go the way we wanted. We obviously went 0-3 and it was a horrible experience. It was something that no one expected because we always expect to win championships,” Karaban said (8:31).
UConn Huskies started the season 4-0 and ranked No. 2 in the AP poll before heading into the mini-tournament held at the Lahaina Civic Center in Hawaii.
The Huskies were favored to win the invitational title, but what happened was the opposite of what the college basketball world expected.
They lost to Memphis in the opener by two points, Colorado in the second round by one point Dayton with 18 points in the game in seventh place. Hurley summarized the Maui Invitational experience as (8:29):
“That actually felt like one long game.”
UConn storms back to win six straight games to end 2024 ranked No. 11 in the AP poll
The losses at the Maui Invitational gave UConn a sense of urgency to fix the shortcomings.
“To avoid feeling like that again, you can change that feeling by going out and winning a few big games and trying to get a little bit of that back. But that experience stays with you as a team and it’s something we will do.” use it to our advantage the rest of the way,” said Dan Hurley (9:54).
The losses relegated UConn to No. 25 in the AP Poll and it hit them in the right way, winning their next four non-conference games, including wins against BaylorTexas and Gonzaga.
The wins moved the Huskies to No. 11 in the AP Poll. They also started the Big East regular season well, scoring their first two assignments against Xavier and Butler.
UConn will aim for their third Big East victory on January 1, 2025, when they visit DePaul at the Wintrust Arena in Chicago, Illinois. The Huskies’ six-game winning streak is on the line against the Blue Demons (8-4, 0-2 in Big East), who have lost four of their last five games after starting the season 7-0.
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Edited by Krutik Jain