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Dan Hurley had a gameplan upon facing the Purdue Boilermakers in the national title game, and it worked to perfection. Interestingly enough, it didn’t center around the team’s best player, Zach Edey.
Instead, Hurley emphasized shutting down the Boilermakers‘ supporting case, which eventually helped his team pull away in the second half.
Edey had been a force in the postseason, averaging 28 points a night over his first five March Madness matchups. He’d outpace that scoring average in the championship game, hitting the Huskies for 37 points on 15-of-25 shooting.
And it was all according to plan for Dan Hurley.
While Edey shined, the rest of the Purdue roster struggled. The center accounted for more than 60% of the squad’s points as the remaining roster totaled just 23.
That came on just 31% shooting with Edey’s teammates missing 20 of 29 attempts from the field, including six of seven three-point shots.
UCONN had a focus on locking down the perimeter and it worked. The Huskies pulled away after halftime, extending their advantage to double digits before leaving with a 15-point title win.
After that second consecutive championship, Dan Hurley broke down that defensive mindset with the media.
“We didn’t care if Zach (Edey) took 25, 28 shots to get 30, 35 points,” the head coach said. “This whole gameplan was: no Smith, no Loyer, no Gillis, no Jones. Keep that collective group under 18, 20 points as a group, they had no chance to win no matter how well Zach played.”
“We didn’t care if Zach (Edey) took 25, 28 shots to get 30, 35 points. This whole gameplan was: no Smith, no Loyer, no Gillis, no Jones. Keep that collective group under 18, 20 points as a group, they had no chance to win no matter how well Zach played.”
– Dan Hurley pic.twitter.com/nyZoMtBrJH
— UConn on SNY (@SNYUConn) April 9, 2024
Now, we’ve seen similar outlooks fail before, including one earlier this tournament against these same Huskies. In an Elite Eight matchup against Illinois, coach Brad Underwood refused to go away from his initial gameplan despite a lack of success.
“If he blocks 100, he blocks 100,” Underwood said when speaking on his offensive attack at big man Donovan Clingan. That obviously didn’t work in a 25-point loss that saw the Illini go on a near-10-minute scoring drought, making the coach look foolish.
UCONN didn’t have that issue as it executed its gameplan to perfection to close out another season of dominance.