UNCASVILLE – UConn men’s basketball coach Dan Hurley has said several times that he hopes to see the Huskies and Syracuse rekindle their rivalry with a regular-season series, either a home-and-home or at Madison Square Garden.
Gerry McNamara, the first-year Orange coach and former star guard, is all for it.
“I love this, I grew up in this, this is what I played in,” McNamara said after UConn’s 72-52 win over the Orange at Mohegan Sun Arena Tuesday. “This game means a lot to me. I felt like, when I was a player in the Big East, it brought the best out of both programs. What Danny’s done has brought them back to where we want to go. I love their staff. It’s hard for me to root for a UConn team, but I find myself doing it because of the people on the sidelines.”
“I think both of us really appreciate old-school, head-to-head competitive juices. Because I think the fan bases enjoy it. I think we’re going to continue to get better, they’ve got to that point. Hopefully as we move forward, this is something we do every year.”
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The teams met Tuesday in Hall of Fame Exhibition Series. It was the first meeting between the former Big East rivals since 2018.
But Hurley hopes to see Syracuse again in the regular season.
“It’s always pretty cool when UConn plays Syracuse,” Hurley said. “Hopefully moving forward, we’re able to find a way to get it done in the regular season. Because I think Gerry’s one of the best young coaches in the sport, and he’s going to have the program back to where it was. Hopefully, we’re going to be able to move this from an exhibition to a regular-season game in the future.”
This article originally published at Why Dan Hurley hopes UConn men’s basketball continues rivalry with Syracuse.