Dan Hurley on Viral Moment With Ref: ‘Thought He Was Coming Over to Chest-Bump Me’

Chances are, if you follow college basketball, you saw the clip. In the immediate aftermath of UConn freshman Braylon Mullins knocking down a memorable 35-foot 3-point shot to give the Huskies a 73-72 lead with just 0.4 seconds left in their Elite Eight showdown with Duke, the broadcast cameras caught something almost as jarring as the shot itself. UConn head coach Dan Hurley walked away from the bench and appeared to briefly bump heads with official Roger Ayers. Within minutes, the moment exploded across social media, arguably eclipsing the sheer brilliance of Mullins’ shot itself, which will be remembered as one of the single greatest shots the sport has ever witnessed.Naturally, the internet did what it does best: speculate and dissect … every single frame. But according to Hurley, the moment wasn’t meant to be confrontational. Instead, it was actually meant to be celebratory. Appearing on the “Triple Action” podcast with FOX Sports’ Rob Stone, Mark Ingram and Urban Meyer, Hurley downplayed the bizarre interaction when asked about it. “Really, at that point in the game, we had it won,” Hurley told Ingram. “And he [Ayers] is such an easy guy to work with during the game, that I thought he was coming over to chest-bump me to celebrate the shot.” That explanation might not sit well with everyone, as a number of college basketball pundits immediately questioned why no technical foul was assessed to Hurley. In fact, it was a debate that lit up social media timelines, arguably as quickly as the highlight itself.But Hurley was very quick to insist that there was no bad blood between himself and Ayers. In fact, quite the opposite, as Hurley went out of his way to describe Ayers as a “cool-ass ref,” adding they had positive interactions throughout the entire game. “It’s not like that for me with him,” Hurley said. “My experience with him has been — we haven’t won every game, I haven’t agreed with every call. But in no way was that me and a ref that I had been at their throat the whole game. “There were other points in the game where I had my arm around him, walking out of a timeout. We were cracking jokes and laughing.” Then, there is the other side of the internet debate. As Stone suggested, they might have actually been sharing a spontaneous celebration. But Hurley clarified that Ayers was trying to communicate how much time was remaining on the game clock. “He was just coming up to tell me there was 0.3 [seconds]—‘I think there’s going to be 0.3 or 0.4 on the clock,’” Hurley said. “And I was still so hyped from the shot going in.” Lost somewhere in the viral video is the reality that the Huskies pulled off one of the most stunning comebacks in NCAA Tournament history, punching their ticket to the program’s third Final Four in four years under Hurley. UConn trailed by as many as 19 points in the second half, but slowly chipped into Duke’s lead before taking the lead in the final second. Next up, Hurley’s UConn team will take on Illinois at 6:09 p.m. ET Saturday night at Lucas Oil Stadium. Chances are there will be another viral moment on Saturday night. So whether it’s a game-changing shot, an eyebrow-raising stare down, or something in between, you probably won’t want to look away.