LAHAINA, Hawaii – Dan Hurley didn’t have much to say after the UConn men’s basketball team lost its third straight game at the Maui Invitational, all against unranked opponents, including Dayton in the battle for seventh place on Wednesday evening.

And although there was again a clear disparity in free throws in the 85:67 defeat, Hurley couldn’t blame the referees for everything. This time there was not a single whistle (or non-whistle) at the end that determined the outcome. And with the Huskies coach dealing with the same issues for the third game in a row, he had to point the finger at his team… and himself.

UConn’s Island defense was well below its standard and completely collapsed in the final minutes as Dayton’s lead grew to as many as 20 points.

“I mean, it’s so many things. It’s so many things,” Hurley said. “There are lapses in discipline, that’s bad coaching, just not being in the right places. There’s obviously been the free throw discrepancy the whole time we’ve been here, which has been a byproduct of a lack of discipline and other factors. It’s scary that a five-point game turned into this with five minutes left.”

Paradise Lost: UConn men’s basketball is stunned for the third straight game as Maui remains winless after an 85-67 loss to Dayton

The Huskies led by just one minute and 41 seconds Wednesday night. The inexperience was evident as players often found themselves out of position, over-helping and fouling, or leaving a man open for a clean shot. With quick events, three games in three days, the same problems persisted throughout.

Dayton shot 13 of 15 from the free throw line in the first half and 14 of 15 in the second half, while UConn was just 7 of 11 from the free throw line in the game. Hurley made noticeable efforts to calm his anger at the referees after he picked up a costly technical foul in the opening game of the tournament against Memphis, which resulted in a 99-97 loss in overtime.

“When you come to a tournament like this and there are three games in three days, it starts to go bad, there’s no way to fix it because you don’t have time to do it. You just have to deal with the situation,” Hurley said. “It’s obviously been a humbling journey for the program to accomplish what we did.”

UConn was warned for a total of 72 fouls – most of which were legitimate. The opponents were whistled just 48 times and benefited from a free throw disparity of 98 to 48.

The program’s identity – toughness, rebounding, tireless effort – was lost on Maui.

UConn has been outscored by 10 or more just three times in the last two seasons. But the Huskies were minus-16 on Wednesday night and hadn’t been outrebounded by that many since a 59-56 loss to Creighton in the 2021 Big East Tournament (minus-17).

How do the Huskies regroup?

They had to take a long flight back to Connecticut late Wednesday night – or early Thursday morning – which Alex Karaban joined after he was checked for a head injury at a Maui hospital after the game. They must shake off jet lag before returning to action Saturday in a buy game against Maryland Eastern Shore in Hartford. It should be an opportunity to take some positivity and get back on the winning list — UMES (2-8) is ranked No. 360 out of 362 Division I teams by KenPom.

“I just think we need to come back and I think we both need to regroup mentally and come up with a different plan defensively for the most part,” Hurley said.

UConn can begin salvaging its non-conference resume when it hosts Baylor at Gampel Pavilion on Wednesday before returning for a trip to Texas the following week. The non-conference slate ends with a return to Storrs South against Gonzaga at Madison Square Garden on December 14th.

But the winless journey to paradise will certainly bring some pain.

“This UConn team that has lost three in a row out here is not the UConn team we were. I think the UConn team we are now is going to get a lot better,” Hurley said. “We rely on a lot of young players. The burden of wearing the uniform after two consecutive deployments seems to be weighing heavily on the group at the moment. I think at the moment we just have to try to focus on becoming a good and tougher team.

“Right now we are just a shell of what we once were.”