UConn holds off St. John’s to advance to Big East final as Huskies head coach Dan Hurley and Red Storm’s Rick Pitino get off-setting technical fouls in HEATED moment with fan in first row

Madison Square Garden hasn’t always been a place where logic reigns supreme, especially when it comes to the Big East tournament. Emotions are always at their maximum and the world’s most famous arena seems to bring out the best and the worst in people.

That was evident Friday when two of the conference’s most emotionally expressive coaches – UConn’s Dan Hurley and St. John’s Rick Pitino – battled for a spot in the Big East Championship game.

Pitino, a Big East coaching legend, tried to complete a turnaround of the Red Storm and revitalize his own image by reaching the finals for the first time since coaching Louisville in 2013.

Hurley may have won a national championship with the Huskies last year, but the New Jersey native hadn’t earned the right to play at the Garden on Saturday since playing at Seton Hall himself.

But this time he achieved one of the sport’s pinnacles, leading Connecticut to a 95-90 victory and reaching the Big East title game, where they faced the winners of Providence and Marquette.

Although the environment of MSG is palpable, it also causes toxicity. Housing more than 19,000 rival Northeasterns in one building is likely to lead to problems, and the first half was a prime example of that.

After a bad call against St. John’s big man Joel Soriano, Pitino was seen berating referee James Breeding. Breeding was always quick with the whistle and immediately hit the old coaching legend with a technical foul.

Pitino joked, “I hadn’t had a technical foul in a long time. I was really looking forward to that moment.’ He later added, “I will say that when I made those statements, they were contrived and they were statements that I wanted to make and they were technical details that I wanted to understand.”

But then disorder took over. Hurley was seen yelling at the officials and pointing out an offending fan sitting on the sideline. The fan – identified by New York sportscaster Adam Zagoria as Tom O’Grady, a friend of Pitino’s – refused to leave. Dan’s father, basketball coaching legend Bob Hurley Sr. from New Jersey, also yelled at O’Grady.

At a press conference after the game, Hurley spoke about the incident, saying, “A little guy in a red blazer standing on the field yelling at the officials, and then he started yelling at me, you know, and walked in my direction . So I just wanted to point out to James (Breeding) that he behaved worse than Coach Pitino.”

After a few minutes of trying to figure out what was going on (compensating for technical fouls for both Hurley and Pitino – while O’Grady was somehow still in his seat), the two teams decided to play another game to play basketball. Connecticut gave up a 7-0 run to start the game, but with two and a half minutes left in the first half the Huskies led by a score of 46-39.

A lob pass to Jaylin Stewart put the Huskies up nine and both coaches took different notes. Pitino was even more somber, walking back and forth across the bench with his arms crossed over his chest before berating Jordan Dingle during a stoppage. Conversely, Hurley turned his back on the piece and pumped up the audience. The Red Storm gained some momentum but trailed 52-47 at the half.

Coaches Dan Hurley and Rick Pitino received technical fouls in the first half

Hurley attempted to remove a fan, later identified as Tom O’Grady (center) – a friend of Pitino

While the rest of the Huskies went through the tunnel, Hurley went back to O’Grady and had security come by. The coach only left the field when the fan emerged from the bottom bowl, but reappeared later in the second half.

Bob Hurley Sr. told DailyMail.com that the fan made personal attacks that crossed the line of normal fan behavior and that “Fans these days think they can buy a ticket and it gives them the right to say whatever they want.”

Dan Hurley joked that he was actually trying to keep the fan on the sidelines: “I went there to tell the ushers that I wanted him to stay, not because I thought he was a good guy.” I thought it might be bad luck. Karma.’

UConn built a 6-0 run in the first media timeout of the second half and went up by eight. That increased to a 12-point lead as the Huskies made 7 of 8 field goals in a row to go up 71-59. Connecticut fans sang their signature chant, “UCONN, UConn, UConn, UConn,” as the red half of the crowd fell into stunned silence.

That all changed in a matter of minutes when the Red Storm started stringing together a neat series of baskets. They still had a gap in front of them, but the difference was a manageable seven points under 7:00.

Even with an eleven-point lead and less than four minutes to go, Pitino wouldn’t let his players stop. The Red Storm scored four of five as the Huskies broke a drought of more than two and a half minutes to make it a 91-85 game in favor of Connecticut with 24 seconds left.

The Huskies now head to their first Big East Championship game since 2011

With St. John’s playing dirty, UConn’s Cam Spencer sank two free throws to go up 93-85. The Red Storm scored a few more points down the stretch, but the five-point margin in the 95-90 Connecticut win was just too much to overcome.

It means Hurley will enter the conference title game for the first time ever as a coach, hoping to help his core group of players win everything they can during their time in Storrs.

“I’ve had guys here on stage looking for that last jewel in the – not in the Triple Crown – the Quadruple Crown: get the Big East regular season, Final Four, National Championship, now in the Big East tournament. I know Tristen (Newton) and Alex (Karaban) and Cam (Spencer) are all pushing for that, and we want to try to make that happen.”

The Huskies will now compete for their first Big East Championship crown since 2011 – a year in which they also won the national title.