Was Dan Hurley a good basketball player at Seton Hall?

Dan Hurley has transformed the UCONN Huskies into a college basketball powerhouse since taking over as the head coach in 2018. But it wasn’t too long ago that he was enjoying his collegiate playing career at Seton Hall. 

While Hurley may not have had a fairy tale story like North Carolina’s Hubert Davis, who eventually became the head coach of his alma mater, his experiences as a player have helped him become a better leader from the sidelines and build a culture at Connecticut. 

Unlike Davis after his four years at UNC, Hurley didn’t take his talents to the NBA following his days at Seton Hall. But why? Was it by choice or because he wasn’t a good basketball player in college?

Was Dan Hurley a good basketball player at Seton Hall?

Hurley spent five seasons at Seton Hall, including a redshirt year. He played for longtime head coach P.J. Carleismo for the first three years, where he averaged 6.1 points per game or less and failed to carve out a consistent role in the rotation before the latter accepted an offer to fill the same position for the Portland Trail Blazers at the pro level. 

Dan Hurley college basketball stats

However, Hurley elevated his game in his final two seasons at Seton Hall, becoming a full-time starter. He averaged 13.8 points, 5.3 assists, 2.7 rebounds, and 2.0 steals per game as a junior and upped his scoring (14.3) and steals (2.3) totals in his senior year.

One thing that plagued Hurley throughout his collegiate career was his shooting woes. He never made more than 39.1 percent of his field goals, making threes at a 29.7 percent clip on 3.0 attempts per game.

Hurley’s brother, Bobby, the head coach at Arizona State University, was the better player of the two siblings. He earned All-ACC honors three times during his four-year career at Duke University, adding two national championships to his resume.