The UCONN Huskies and Dan Hurley won the Big East Championship Game against the Marquette Golden Eagles 73-57. UCONN just like Marquette last season won the Big East regular season title and also the Big East Tournament. The Huskies beat the Golden Eagles all three times they played each other.
UCONN blew out Marquette the first time they played each other this season, but it was competitive in the other two matchups. The Huskies only had a two-point halftime lead on Saturday before pulling away from the Golden Eagles late in the game.
The UCONN Huskies are the number one overall seed in the NCAA Tournament and they finished with a 31-3 record before the big dance begins. After the game on Saturday night, head coach Dan Hurley had a ton of praise for the way Marquette head coach Shaka Smart runs his basketball program. Hurley told the media by saying:
“I’ve got so much respect for Shaka. I’ve got so much respect for their team and the way they go about their program. I don’t hear them tampering with players in the portal.”
UCONN Huskies Head Coach Dan Hurley Is Right To a Degree About the Marquette Golden Eagles and Shaka Smart
UCONN coach Hurley is right to a degree about Smart’s basketball program at Marquette. They both have built their basketball programs similarly by recruiting. The Huskies this season just reloaded after losing players last season after winning a National Title. The Marquette Golden Eagles returned a lot of players to the roster this season and had a freshman like Tre Norman get minutes this season.
Tyler Kolek, Oso Ighodaro, Kam Jones, Stevie Mitchell, and others have developed in Smart’s basketball program. The only difference between UCONN and Marquette is that the Huskies have a little more talent than the Golden Eagles do. The mutual respect between the last two Big East Conference Champions goes to show how deep the respect goes between these two basketball teams.
