RALEIGH, N.C. -- UConn coach Dan Hurley was asked how it felt after his team rallied to a 67-59 win over Oklahoma in the first round of the NCAA tournament Friday night.
He offered the obvious: "It felt normal."
Indeed, Friday night's win for the two-time defending national champion Huskies was their 13th straight in the tournament, tied with the 1991-93 Duke Blue Devils for the longest streak since the tournament expanded in 1985. Hurley said this year's run-up to the tournament has been more dramatic -- close losses, more stress -- but the ability to keep winning showcases how special it has been.
"If it wasn't for all of my antics and viral moments," said Hurley, who repeatedly has earned attention for outspoken commentary, "there would be more focus on just what we've accomplished as a program the last three years. It's been an amazing run, one of the best runs anyone's had."
Friday's win was, Hurley said, a microcosm of UConn's 2024-25 campaign -- one far different from what the program enjoyed in the prior two seasons.
No. 8 seed UConn led by as many as 10 points in the first half but saw No. 9 seed Oklahoma storm back to take the lead. With 3:20 left in the game and without a field goal in more than three minutes, the Huskies were up just a point.
That's when Alex Karaban drained a critical 3-pointer, giving UConn a cushion it never relinquished.
"Whenever we've been able to start playing good basketball and getting separation, we've tended to shoot ourselves in the foot," Hurley said. "But the thing about this team is we're really battle-tested, and we've had to fight so hard all year that we showed a lot of toughness down the stretch to execute some things and make some critical shots and make some critical stops."
UConn is one of just three programs to win back-to-back national titles, and each is playing in Raleigh this weekend. The last to double-dip before UConn was Florida, which the Huskies will face Sunday with a ticket to the Sweet 16 at stake and a chance to set the tournament record for consecutive victories. (Duke is the other to repeat.)
"Just to be able to come here and, No. 1, to make the tournament and fight our way in, come out here and fight with some honor and get ourselves an opportunity to play one of the best teams in the country," Hurley said, "there's a lot of honor in us being able to face the last team that went back-to-back."