Glendale, Ariz. – Running on four hours of sleep, Dan Hurley sat down at the podium inside State Farm Stadium on Thursday afternoon for a pre-Final Four press conference.

Hurley fielded several questions about his team’s travel issues that delayed UConn’s departure from Bradley International Airport in Windsor Locks on Wednesday night. The Huskies finally landed in Phoenix at about 3:15 a.m. local time early Thursday.

Mechanical issues forced the cancellation of UConn’s early evening flight and a replacement plane ended up taking off about two hours after its scheduled 11:30 p.m. departure time due to bad weather and more mechanical problems.

When asked how he passed the time during the delay, Hurley said: “I ruminated a lot. I spiraled. I had my head in my hands a lot. ...”

“We sent the guys back to campus because then we were going to leave at 11:30. It was a real mindful exercise from 11:30 to 1:45 a.m. on the tarmac. It was therapeutic to watch the deicing out the window. That was probably the best part.”

Then Hurley cracked a smile.

The Huskies can’t help but laugh about what transpired. There’s really no other choice.

The NCAA, which is in charge of travel arrangements, adjusted Thursday’s media schedule for UConn, making only Hurley available while allowing players to skip their time slot to rest.

“The delays were the result of an unfortunate set of circumstances,” an NCAA official said in a released statement.

The reigning national champion Huskies made their own adjustments to their schedule on Thursday, moving things back by about 75 minutes.

They practiced at State Farm Stadium, the NFL home of the Arizona Cardinals.

“The guys were able to sleep in a little bit,” Hurley said. “We did our same routine. We did our video at our hotel. We knew we only had an hour and a half on the court, so it was important to take advantage of shooting, get a little bit of live play so we could get adjusted to a much, much bigger setting.”

Hurley is grateful that the Final Four Welcoming Committee stuck around to greet UConn upon the team’s arrival at the airport.

“What goes through your mind once you’re done complaining and cursing and muttering, you just start saying to yourself you don’t really deserve to show entitlement,” Hurley said. “Such an honor to get a chance, a once-in-a-lifetime experience to play in the Final Four, coach in a Final Four. ...

“We’re lucky to get an opportunity to come play in the Final Four. Who doesn’t deal with problems with the airlines? People deal with it during the holidays. It’s something that you just gotta get through.

“But it sucked.”

Hurley is taking a no-excuses approach with his team.

Top-seeded UConn still arrived in Arizona two days before it will play No. 4 Alabama on Saturday (8:49 p.m.) in the national semifinals. Alabama, Purdue and North Carolina State all made the trip without any travel issues.

Alabama coach Nate Oats, who’s coaching friends with brothers Bobby and Dan Hurley, had some fun with UConn’s situation. Bobby, Arizona State’s head coach, gave Oats his first college coaching job, hiring him as an assistant on his staff at Buffalo.

“Not quite sure what happened with the plane,” Oats said. “Wasn’t me. I didn’t send anybody over there to mess with the mechanics. I’m sure he’s conjured that up in his head already.”

Then Oats added he got seven to eight hours of sleep in a bed, not a plane on Wednesday night: “I did get a good night’s sleep last night, so that was nice. I’m sure he’ll be fired up and ready to go Saturday. It will be fun. We’ll touch base after the game.”

This is the second straight NCAA tournament that UConn encountered a problem.

Last March in Las Vegas, the Huskies were forced to switch hotels after finding their assigned rooms were not cleaned after being trashed by previous guests. They also had their team bus broken into.

The Huskies overcame those issues just fine, beating Arkansas in the Sweet 16 and Gonzaga in the Elite Eight in Vegas on their way to rolling to the program’s fifth national championship.

g.keefe@theday.com