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By Cole Sullivan
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The No. 2 Connecticut Huskies secured a major victory in the NCAA Tournament on Sunday night over the No. 7 UCLA Bruins to advance to the Sweet 16 and set up a meeting on Friday with the No. 3 Michigan State Spartans.
After UConn's win, head coach Dan Hurley was asked about getting the opportunity to coach against Spartans head coach Izzo in March Madness and he had extremely high praise for the longtime Big 10 coach.
"Talk about an honor to share the sideline with one of the greatest coaches and one of the most real coaches," Hurley said. "Not a phony in any way. What you see is what you get and he's one of the greatest to ever do it. He's always been my respected coach ... I love Coach Izzo."
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He added at the end of the interview a brief message directly to Izzo revealing that he's going to call him leading up to the game to "break the ice."
"I'll even call him before the game just to break the ice. So Coach, I'll be calling," Hurley added.
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Hurley and Izzo have faced off in preseason exhibition games in recent years, but their only head-to-head regular-season matchup came in 2021, with Izzo currently holding a 1-0 record.
This matchup, however, will be by far their biggest to date, with a trip to the Elite Eight on the line. The winner will face the victor of St. John’s and Duke, setting up an instant classic regardless of the outcome.
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