The UConn basketball team suffered a 77-75 loss to Florida in the second round of the NCAA Tournament, and after the hard-fought loss, head coach Dan Hurley opened up on the emotions he felt after the bid for a three-peat fell short.

“Yeah, I mean they showed their quality,” Dan Hurley said on CBS. “I mean I thought we played with tremendous honor. I thought we played with the heart of a championship program that’s gone back-to-back, and for a team to end what we really wanted to do, they were gonna have to put us down. And obviously a worthy opponent like that, there’s honor in the way we went out.”

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UConn basketball was in control for much of the second half, but ultimately came up short in the end. It was a great effort, given that UConn was a No. 8 seed coming into the matchup and Florida is viewed as one of the favorites to win the national championship.

Three-point shooting was arguably the difference in the game for UConn. There were many open looks, but the Huskies shot 8-for-29 on the day. The shooters on the team in Liam McNeeley, Alex Karaban and Solo Ball had chances. It was nearly enough to take down Florida, but in the end, the Gators came back to secure the win.

With Hassan Diarra, Samson Johnson and likely Alex Karaban departing the program this offseason, Hurley and the staff will have to figure out what to bring in from the transfer portal. With UConn losing in the second round, the coaching staff will have more time to target players in the portal than they have in the last two offseasons.

UConn does have a good freshman class coming, with Braylon Mullins, Darius Adams and Eric Reibe being ranked in the top 32 in the recruiting class.