UConn suffered a March Madness travel loss to advance to the Final Four

College basketball

By Christian Arnold

The UConn Huskies are dealing with serious travel issues that could keep them out of Arizona until Thursday morning.

UConn's men's basketball team currently does not have a flight to Phoenix due to logistical and mechanical issues. CBS Sports' Matt Norlander first reported it Wednesday Later confirmed by the NCAA.

The group's original flight was supposed to fly out of Kansas City, but delays led to growing problems, one of which was that the flight crew on the flight from KC would go past FAA-sanctioned hours and not return immediately. Around to fly to Phoenix.

Despite concerns that their earliest flight would not take off until after midnight, ESPN's Peter Thamel And the NCAA now expects their flight to depart around 11:30 pm ET and arrive in Phoenix around 2 am ET.

UConn head coach Dan Hurley first told Norlander that the Huskies could arrive in Arizona a few hours before Thursday's media availability, around 5 a.m. ET/2 a.m. local time.

To do that, the team had to take a small plane from Cincinnati that required a fuel stop en route to reach its final destination and other charter airlines had no facilities at first. For the next five hours, Norlander said.

The ordeal has put UConn in a strange and less-than-ideal situation heading into the Final Four.

Alabama and Purdue fly in on Tuesday and NC State Arrived in Phoenix Earlier on Wednesday.

Initially, the Huskies' two options seemed to be taking a flight that left after midnight or their original flight out of Kansas City, which could not take off until 10 a.m. Thursday due to FAA regulations with crew.

That was until we got a flight at 11:30pm.

“The NCAA worked with schools and charter airlines to develop multiple options for travel to Phoenix,” the NCAA said in a statement. “We are very disappointed that UConn will arrive later than expected and it is unfortunate that the team's travel experience has been affected.”

UConn's Final Four matchup against Alabama doesn't begin until Saturday night at 8:49 pm ET, giving the Huskies plenty of time to travel to Phoenix.