Hurley, Haith both tossed in ‘surreal’ ejections
UConn’s Dan Hurley and Tulsa’s Frank Haith are ejected after getting into an altercation on the sideline. (1:22)
UConn‘s Dan Hurley and Tulsa‘s Frank Haith each were ejected during the Golden Hurricane’s 89-83 victory over the Huskies on Wednesday night in Oklahoma.
The coaches received technical fouls during a heated verbal exchange with 11:40 to play and Tulsa leading 61-47. When Hurley went to shake Haith’s hand after the T’s, another double technical was assessed and the coaches were shown the door early.
“I’ve never seen anything like that,” Hurley said. “It was surreal, I would say. … Watch what happened on TV. It’s very clear. I was talking to the official, and then I was engaged by someone on the other sideline. They said my name, in my direction, so I turned and looked [with] kind of a look of surprise.
The Blue Devils fell out of the top spot after Syracuse won in OT. The Wolverines have been the nation’s most consistent team.
“I’ve known Frank for a very long time — probably 15, 18, 20 years, back to when I was a high school coach and he recruited my players. I feel as though that situation escalated because of the officials and the way they handled the situation.”
Haith concurred that the ejections were not warranted and said he considered Hurley a friend.
The double ejections came just a day after Cincinnati coach Mick Cronin was ejected in the Bearcats’ win over South Florida. It was the first time in 426 games as Cincinnati’s coach that Cronin was tossed.
“What they did, they almost penalized a group of kids, and they should be suspended,” Cronin said afterward. “Instead, the league office is monitoring my press conference right now to see if I say anything wrong. That’s the problem with our sport.”
It was Hurley’s second ejection in his first season at UConn (10-8, 1-4 AAC). He also was tossed on Nov. 16 in a loss to Iowa at Madison Square Garden.
Hurley was celebrating his 46th birthday on Wednesday.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.