Dan Hurley talks about Thomas Howe from Florida
After a down year in 2024-25 after back-to-back national championships, Dan Hurley there is UConn basketball is back on top of college basketball. The Huskies entered Tuesday night’s Jimmy V Classic against No. 5 ranked Florida at 8-1.
UConn backed up its ranking, putting together a hard-fought 77-73 victory over No. 18 Florida at Madison Square Garden to move to 9-1 on the season. The Gators hung in the game until the very end, but UConn eventually made a few more plays and showed why it is a title contender once again.
Harley was understandably pleased with the win, but took some time off press conference after the game to praise Florida forward Thomas Howe, according to ESPN’s Jeff Borzello.
“Haugh is one of my favorite players lately,” Hurley said, according to Borzell. “That guy’s just an amazing player. The way he’s developed and the way Todd’s developed that guy. That guy’s like a first-team All-American. He should be a lottery pick. He’s great, man.”
Hurley got to know Haugh and the rest of this Florida program in the NCAA Tournament back in March, when the Gators defeated UConn in a very close second-round game 77-75 en route to the national championship.
After the departure of Walter Clayton Jr. and others, Haugh became the focal point of the attack for the defending champions. He had a big game in this game, scoring 18 points on 7-for-12 shooting while knocking down three 3-pointers in 37 minutes.
UConn was led by Solo Ball, who finished with 19 points of his own, including several big shots down the stretch as Florida tried to claw back the lead.
This is it UConn’s fourth win of the season over a ranked team and his third on the road after beating BIU in Boston and Kansas at Allen Fieldhouse. After a frustrating campaign last season, Hurley looks to have another championship-caliber team capable of beating any team in any arena, and it proved that once again on Tuesday night.
2025-12-10 06:54:00
