On the court, UConn coach Dan Hurley is an emotional and animated guy. But some fans thought Hurley took things too far following UConn’s last-second win over Duke in the Elite Eight.

Following Braylon Mullins’ buzzer-beat to put UConn up 73-72 with just 0.3 seconds left, cameras captured a weird exchange between Hurley and official Roger Ayers. In the clip, Hurley appeared to get in Ayers’ face, with both men butting heads on the sideline.

After seeing the exchange, some wondered why Hurley was not charged with a technical foul, as making contact with an official can lead to both a penalty and ejection for coaches. Hurley, who was ejected from a loss vs. Marquette earlier in the season after making contact with an official, was certainly aware that was the case.

But Hurley said everyone who has seen the clip has it all wrong. As the coach explained during an appearance on “The Triple Option” podcast, he believed Ayers was going in for a chest-bump, which resulted in the strange interaction.

Hurley’s full comments read:

"Really, at that point in the game we had it won, and he’s such an easy guy to work with during the game, I thought he was coming over to chest-bump me and celebrate the shot. 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 going at a ref like I’ve been at their throat the whole game. There were other points in the game where I had my arm around him walking out of a timeout. We were cracking jokes and laughing.”

At that point, Hurley said it wasn’t like the situation at Marquette, where he implied he deserved to be penalized for his actions. He then turned the conversation back to the Duke game, saying he was being carried by the “emotion of the shot” during his moment with Ayers. When asked if they were sharing that moment, Hurley clarified that Ayers was coming up to inform Hurley that there was still some time left on the clock.

Given the narrow margin of victory, a technical foul on Hurley in that moment could have been catastrophic for UConn. That, obviously, didn’t happen and UConn advanced to the Final Four, where it will take on Illinois on Saturday.

While Hurley will move on to the Final Four, Ayers won’t be able to say the same. Despite being a veteran official with multiple years of Final Four experience under his belt, Ayers was not chosen to work during the Final Four. It’s unclear whether his interaction with Hurley played a role in that decision.

The tallest basketball player in NCAA history is looking for a new team in the offseason. Florida center Olivier Rioux is reportedly entering the transfer portal after a middling first season with the Gators.

Rioux, 20, is making the move after seeing limited time in just 11 games as a freshman. He averaged 0.6 points and 0.5 rebounds in just 1.5 minutes per game.

Despite his lack of playing time at Florida, Rioux should draw plenty of interest on the market. At 7-foot-9, Rioux is the tallest player in college-basketball history, and stands inches above his competition.

This story will be updated.

The NFL’s annual league meeting will begin Sunday, and Florida attorney general James Uthmeier has one demand for the league: That it suspend the Rooney Rule.

In a video Wednesday, Uthmeier called for the rule to be suspended, saying it violates Florida law by “requiring race-based considerations in hiring.” Uthmeier threatened “enforcement actions against the league for race-based discrimination.”

The Rooney Rule, which was instituted by the league in 2003, requires teams to “interview at least one or more diverse candidates before making a new hire.” The policy initially only applied to head-coaching job, though has expanded to other roles since its introduction. Since 2009, both “general manager and primary football executive jobs” require NFL teams to interview two minority candidates, per the NFL’s website.

Uthmeier sent a letter to the league urging it to stop applying the Rooney Rule to NFL teams in Florida — which include the Jacksonville Jaguars, Miami Dolphins and Tampa Bay Buccaneers. If the league does not comply, Uthmeier threatened that he would consider “a civil rights enforcement action.” Uthmeier did not specify exactly what that would entail.

The NFL’s annual league meeting will begin Sunday, March 29, and run through Wednesday, April 1. At the meeting, teams and owners typically discuss league business, including possible rule changes for the upcoming season. This year, owners will also vote on the site of Super Bowl LXIII, though it’s expected that will be awarded to Las Vegas.

Prior to Wednesday, the Rooney Rule was not among the items reported to be on the docket during the annual league meeting. It’s unclear whether Uthmeier’s demand or threats will change the NFL’s agenda.

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell typically takes part in a press conference during the annual league meeting. If Goodell doesn’t respond to Uthmeier’s demand before that presser, the commissioner will almost certainly address the issue while speaking with the media.