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Following Braylon Mullins’ game-winning three-point shot with 0.4 seconds left to give UConn a 73-72 lead over Duke, Huskies’ head coach Dan Hurley did a strange thing: headbutted one of the game’s referees, Roger Ayers.
The moment was caught on camera, with multiple angles of the incident captured. And while some would argue that making contact with an official should have resulted in a technical foul, Ayers kept his whistle quiet, and the Huskies would move on to the Final Four.
When asked about the incident, Hurley gave an interesting answer to why he headbutted a ref.
"Really, at that point in the game, we had it won," Hurley said. "And [Ayers is] such an easy guy to work with during the game, that I thought he was coming over to chest-bump me to celebrate the shot."
A referee celebrating with a coach would definitely be a massive story, but for now, Hurley will likely keep his head to himself for the rest of the NCAA Tournament. The UConn head coach did say that he and Ayers had been chatting the entire game.
It's not like that for me with him," Hurley said. "My experience with him has been -- we haven't won every game, I haven't agreed with every call. But in no way was that me and a ref that I had been at their throat the whole game.
"There were other points in the game where I had my arm around him, walking out of a timeout, we were cracking jokes and laughing."
This article originally appeared on Duke Wire: Dan Hurley gives insane explanation for why he headbutted referee
Continue reading...
The moment was caught on camera, with multiple angles of the incident captured. And while some would argue that making contact with an official should have resulted in a technical foul, Ayers kept his whistle quiet, and the Huskies would move on to the Final Four.
When asked about the incident, Hurley gave an interesting answer to why he headbutted a ref.
"Really, at that point in the game, we had it won," Hurley said. "And [Ayers is] such an easy guy to work with during the game, that I thought he was coming over to chest-bump me to celebrate the shot."
A referee celebrating with a coach would definitely be a massive story, but for now, Hurley will likely keep his head to himself for the rest of the NCAA Tournament. The UConn head coach did say that he and Ayers had been chatting the entire game.
It's not like that for me with him," Hurley said. "My experience with him has been -- we haven't won every game, I haven't agreed with every call. But in no way was that me and a ref that I had been at their throat the whole game.
"There were other points in the game where I had my arm around him, walking out of a timeout, we were cracking jokes and laughing."
This article originally appeared on Duke Wire: Dan Hurley gives insane explanation for why he headbutted referee
Continue reading...
