NEW YORK (AP) — UConn coach Dan Hurley bought heated about a fan once more Friday evening.

Moments after St. John’s counterpart Rick Pitino obtained a technical foul for shouting at officers in the Big East semifinals, Hurley was whistled for one throughout the identical stoppage in play.

With his father, Hall of Fame highschool coach Bob Hurley Sr., sitting in the entrance row proper behind him, Dan Hurley referred to as for safety to eject a fan from a alternative seat close by at sold-out Madison Square Garden.

“Obviously, the place was in a frenzy when Coach got his. And then there was a guy — there was a short guy in a red blazer that was on the court yelling at the refs, and then he started yelling at me and moving in my direction,” Hurley mentioned. “So I was just kind of pointing out to (referee James Breeding) that he was behaving worse than Coach Pitino.

“I was really just trying to help the officials. They might not have seen it. And then I got a technical for pointing out more increasingly aggressive fans. At courtside, you shouldn’t end up on the court.”

Hurley said the fan was cursing a lot, but the UConn coach said he later told ushers he didn’t want the man thrown out.

“I kept him in. They were going to eject him from the game. I went over there to tell the ushers I wanted him to stay — not because I thought he was a good guy. I thought it might be bad luck,” Hurley said, drawing laughs. “Karma.”

The New York Post reported the St. John’s fan, Tom O’Grady, said he didn’t say anything to Hurley and all he did was tell the official Hurley was out of the coaching box.

“Yeah, that guy’s a straight shooter,” Hurley said, dripping with sarcasm.

The exchange came six days after Hurley spent much of the final minute of his team’s 74-60 victory at Providence jawing with a Friars fan in the second row. The coach of the defending NCAA champions also waved his arms to encourage the considerable contingent of fans rooting for the road team, then left the court with both index fingers raised in the air.

“I just told him, ‘I’ve got a national championship ring, and we won the regular season in the Big East, and we’re champions,’” Hurley said after that game. “‘And you should shut up, and you shouldn’t be running your mouth at that point in the game. You know, just get out of here. You know? Just go.’”

Always a demonstrative shouter, not unlike many college basketball coaches, Hurley was fired up on the sideline throughout second-ranked UConn’s 95-90 victory over St. John’s. But star guards Tristen Newton and Cam Spencer thought it was nothing out of the peculiar.

“Honestly, today, I thought he was a little more calm,” Newton mentioned.

Hurley mentioned he reset himself at halftime by doing a 3-minute meditation on his Calm app.

“I’m probably now the boy who cried wolf because of last game. But I promise you if we play Marquette tomorrow night, there will be no incident because those people are incredibly classy fans and we have incredible respect for them,” Hurley mentioned.

Marquette performed Providence in the second Big East semifinal for a spot in the title recreation in opposition to UConn.

As for the 71-year-old Pitino, he made mild of the technical he obtained on the 8:16 mark of the primary half for arguing a foul name on St. John’s heart Joel Soriano.

“I haven’t had a technical in a long, long time. I was really looking forward to that moment,” Pitino deadpanned, including his show was contrived as a result of he felt issues weren’t going the Red Storm’s means.

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AP College Sports Writer Ralph D. Russo contributed to this report.

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