RALEIGH, N.C. — It’s been a rocky season for the two-time defending champions, but as UConn looks to take its first steps toward a third straight national championship, head coach Dan Hurley thinks his team might’ve benefited from the rougher path to the NCAA tournament.

Hurley said his Huskies “earned the 8-seed” after an ugly November performance at the Maui Invitational and mixed results throughout Big East play, but those struggles have turned UConn into something of a potential Cinderella story, staring with its Friday matchup against Oklahoma.

“I feel like, in a weird way, it’s a little pressure off of us going into the tournament where we could just go out and let it rip right now,” Hurley said before UConn’s Thursday shootaround. “We don’t have this huge pressure of expectations. A lot of people don’t think we’re going to win the first game.”

Hurley called the matchup with the Sooners “a dog fight” but said he thinks that unlike the past two seasons when UConn entered as a tournament favorite, this year’s crew is better prepared for tough games.

“We’re more battle tested, just been through way more,” Hurley said, chronicling the Huskies’ path from a 4-3 start to the year to earning signature wins against Baylor, Texas and Gonzaga in the stretch that followed.

UConn enters the tournament at 23-10 and is seeded eighth — its worst seeding when making the tournament since 2016, when the Huskies lost to Kansas in the second round under former coach Kevin Ollie.

Forward Alex Karaban chalked up some of this season’s issues to injuries, but he said UConn’s approach hasn’t wavered from what got this program to the mountaintop each of the past two years. What’s different this time around, he said, is the Huskies aren’t playing like they have a target on their backs.

“I don’t think there’s any pressure whatsoever,” Karaban said. “Having done what we’ve done the last two years, heading into this year there’s no pressure. This is a completely different team. We’ve been on a completely different journey. We just want to wear the jersey with honor and pride. If we do that, anything could happen when you play at UConn.”