After his team’s 63-54 loss to Maryland on Saturday in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament, UConn coach Dan Hurley was effusive in his praise of the Terps.
“Big credit to Maryland. I thought those guys, in particular offensively, they played a great first, probably, 28 minutes, 30 minutes. Shot the cover off of it, you know, I think they showed their you know their experience, their quality. [Eric] Ayala, we were scared to death of that matchup today. Just really didn’t have anyone that could guard him and those guys are really seasoned, well-coached team that really earned the win,” he said.
Hurley had mentioned in pregame interviews he was worried about Ayala, and his concerns proved legitimate. Maryland’s 6-foot-4 point guard bullied past UConn’s smaller guards for layups and did damage from behind the 3-point arc in a 23-point night.
“Ayala, I mean we were scared of what he was going to be able to do versus us because we’ve got two point guards that don’t have great size or physicality. And then once he was kind of overpowering those guys, you know, Tyrese couldn’t stay in front of him and James, you know, James has a long way to go as a defender. So he was just, we knew he was gonna be a problem um and he was exactly what we thought he was gonna be.”
He also had high praise for Maryland guard Darryl Morsell, part of an effort that held UConn star James Bouknight to 16 points on 6-for-16 shooting.
“Morsell’s an excellent defender. Those guys [James Bouknight was] playing against, Maryland, you know, those guys for the most part that were guarding him today were physical juniors and seniors. And I think he was a little bit indecisive at times tonight and I just think overall we showed as a group, we showed just our lack of experience in a moment like this.”
