After a down year in 2024-25 following back-to-back national championships, Dan Hurley has UConn basketball right back at the top of college basketball. The Huskies came into Tuesday night's Jimmy V Classic against Florida ranked No. 5 in the country at 8-1.
UConn backed up its ranking, collecting a hard-fought 77-73 win over No. 18 Florida at Madison Square Garden to get to 9-1 on the season. The Gators hung in the game until the very end, but UConn just made a couple more plays in the end and showed why it is a title contender once again.
Hurley was understandably happy with the win, but he took some time out of his postgame press conference to praise Florida forward Thomas Haugh, according to ESPN's Jeff Borzello.
“Haugh’s one of my favorite players in recent memory,” Hurley said, per Borzello. “That guy is just an incredible player. How he’s developed and how Todd has developed that guy. That guy’s like a first-team All-American. He should be a lottery pick. He’s tremendous, man.”
Hurley got familiar with Haugh and the rest of this Florida program in the NCAA Tournament back in March, when the Gators beat UConn in a very close 77-75 second round game on its way to a national championship.
After the departure of Walter Clayton Jr. and others, Haugh has become a focal point of the offense for the defending champs. 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 a couple of big shots down the stretch when Florida was making a push to get back into the lead.
This is UConn's fourth win of the season over a ranked team and its third away from home after beating BYU in Boston and Kansas at Allen Fieldhouse. After a frustrating campaign last season, Hurley appears to have another championship-caliber squad that is capable of beating any team in any arena, and it proved that once again on Tuesday night.
