Dan Hurley clears air on interaction with ref in UConn's win vs Duke

Connecticut coach Dan Hurley went viral shortly after Braylon Mullins' heroic game-winning 3-pointer against Duke in the Elite Eight for appearing to headbutt official Roger Ayers in celebration of the shot. Hurley's action raised debate on whether the two-time national championship-winning coach could've received a potentially game-altering technical foul. On Tuesday, March 31, Hurley said it was all in good fun after noting he and Ayers have a good on-court relationship.

REQUIRED READING: Did Dan Hurley deserve a technical after game-winning shot for going face-to-face with ref? "Really at that point in the game we had it won," Hurley said on "The Triple Option" podcast . "And (Ayers is) an easy guy to work with during the game that I thought he was coming over to chest bump me to celebrate the shot.

Because it's not like that for me with him. "My experience with him has been — we haven't won every game, I haven't agreed with every call — so that was, in no way, me and a ref that I had been at their throat the whole game. Other points in the game where I had my arm around him walking out of a timeout, we were cracking jokes and laughing with that situation.

... That was more like the emotion of the shot and this is a cool-(expletive) ref. " Turns out @dhurley15 wasn’t worried about getting a technical at all.