Mullins' last-second 3 sends UConn to Final Four

WASHINGTON -- Thirty-six years after Christian Laettner hit a buzzer-beater to beat UConn in the Elite Eight and send Duke to the men's Final Four, the Huskies got their revenge.

And somehow it came in more dramatic fashion.

UConn freshman Braylon Mullins -- who grew up just outside of Indianapolis and will return home looking for more magic -- stole the ball after an errant Cayden Boozer pass and ultimately buried a 3-pointer from 35 feet with 0.4 seconds left to cap a remarkable 19-point comeback and give the Huskies a 73-72 win.

They advance to the Final Four for the third time in four years, looking to become the first team since UCLA in the 1970s to win three national championships in four years.

"The Indiana kid sent us to Indianapolis," said senior Alex Karaban, who took a pass from Mullins after the steal and passed it back to him for the winning shot.

After Silas Demary Jr. made one free throw to cut Duke's lead to two with 10.0 seconds left, UConn scrambled defensively to try to force a turnover. Dame Sarr and Cameron Boozer exchanged passes, then Sarr passed it to Cayden Boozer near half court.

Demary and Mullins left their defensive responsibilities and collapsed on Boozer, who tried to throw over the top to one of two wide-open teammates at the other end of the floor. But Demary got a hand on the ball, Mullins recovered the ball in the backcourt and passed it to Karaban. Mullins thought Karaban, the winningest player in UConn history, was going to take the shot. But Karaban saw he was being guarded by Cameron Boozer and gave it right back to Mullins. The rest went down in UConn -- and NCAA tournament -- lore.

"I think we were all just trying to get the ball out of whoever had the ball in their hands and trying to make a play on the ball," Mullins said. "Silas made an incredible, incredible play, and everything else just happened as it is."

Mullins had been mired in a late-season shooting slump and missed his first four 3-point attempts Sunday. But as soon as the ball left his hand, his teammates and coaches sensed he was making it.

"I watched the trajectory of the ball and I said, this s--- might go in," UConn coach Dan Hurley said.

"When I saw him release it, I was like, that really might go in," Karaban added.

Did Mullins think it was going in?

"Hell yeah," he said. "You got to have the confidence."

Mullins said it was his first game-winning shot in the final seconds since his junior year of high school, but his first in a potential season-ending situation.

"This is in its own category," he said. "This is different."

UConn trailed by as many as 19 points in the first half and Duke still led by double digits with just over six minutes left. But Tarris Reed Jr.'s 26 points kept the Huskies close and a flurry of 3-pointers in the final seven minutes pushed UConn over the line.

Reed, who has been one of the most dominant players in recent NCAA tournament history, tried to put UConn on his back and carry them to the Final Four. He had 11 points in the first nine minutes of the second half, and finished with nine rebounds, four blocks, three assists and two steals in addition to his 26 points. That capped a four-game tournament run for Reed that started with an historic first-round performance against Furman, where he tallied 31 points and 27 rebounds. In four games, Reed is averaging 21.8 points, 13.5 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 2.3 blocks.

"It was just trying to win at this point," Reed said. "It could be my last college basketball game, and they were just like, go for it all. Coach told us before the game, you've got to swing for the fences, go as hard as you can ... Trying to keep the team alive. Eventually guys were going to knock down shots, which they did."

It took a long time for those shots to start falling. UConn made just one of its first 18 attempts from 3-point range; when informed of this stat, Hurley responded, "What the hell did you just say? 1-for-18?"

But back-to-back Demary 3-pointers from opposite corners with seven minutes left gave the Huskies a spark, and Karaban's first 3 of the game with 50 seconds left cut Duke's lead to one.

"If we were going to win the game, we were going to have to make a couple of 3s down the stretch," Hurley said. "I thought we were getting decent looks. Obviously Braylon's look at the end was a bomb, but Silas' looks, they were clean. I thought we got a lot of good looks ... We just haven't had that shooting magic, but then we did."

Duke's first half was as dominant a performance as any team has had against UConn during the Huskies' four-year run of success. According to ESPN Research, the Blue Devils' 14-0 run in the first half was the largest against the Huskies in any game since they moved to the Big East before the 2020-21 season, and the 44-29 halftime margin was just the third time in that span UConn has trailed by 15 or more points at the break.

UConn had no answer for Cameron Boozer for most of the game. The Huskies opted to start Karaban on Boozer, and the Huskies struggled mightily on the defensive end. The attention given to Boozer inside left his teammates open and they took advantage -- particularly his brother, Cayden, and Sarr. Cayden Boozer, who was forced to the bench for most of the second half against St. John's in the Sweet 16 due to his inability to deal with the Red Storm's defensive pressure, was terrific in the first half, posting 13 points, three rebounds, two assists, two steals and no turnovers before the break. Sarr hit two 3s and made plays at both ends of the floor.

But UConn came out of halftime with energy and had multiple chances to cut Duke's lead to single digits before the first media timeout. The Blue Devils -- more specifically, Boozer -- constantly had answers for each of the Huskies' mini-runs, but the momentum was clearly going in UConn's direction.

"It just felt like we were going to be able to hang in there in the second half," Hurley said. "The locker room wasn't quiet, either. The locker room was a little bit pissed off. The locker was a little bit, we ain't doing this. They're great. Duke's a great program. They're a great team, but we're greater. So let's find a way."

For the third straight season, Duke's season ends in stunning fashion -- and for the second straight year with a late-game collapse. In 2024, the Blue Devils fell in the Elite Eight to 11-seed and Tobacco Road rival NC State. Last season, the Blue Devils blew a nine-point lead in the final 2:10 in the Final Four to lose to Houston, allowing the Cougars to score nine straight points in the last 33 seconds.

And then came Sunday. A 19-point lead in the first half, a 10-point lead with just over six minutes left, possession of the ball and a two-point lead with 7 seconds left. Only to lose in regulation.

"There's not a person in this room, including me, that doesn't replay everything that you could do and how you can help," Duke coach Jon Scheyer said. "That's part of being in this seat. That's part of being in this spot ... End of the day, we've got to finish it off."

No matter how many great teams Scheyer has during his Duke tenure, these two losses will undoubtedly resonate. There may never be a better two-year run of individual players than Cooper Flagg and then Boozer. (In what was probably his final college game, the National Player of the Year frontrunner had 27 points, eight rebounds and four assists.)

For neither season to end with a national championship is difficult, particularly with the way both elimination games ended.

"I look at every play that happened, especially in that second half, this is not about one play," Scheyer said. "It's about every play that put us in that position, and that's what you don't want to do, where one play something could happen."

The Final Four won't be a time for Scheyer to get revenge for last season. It will, however, be a chance for UConn to establish itself as a true dynasty. Three Final Fours in four years. An opportunity to win three national championships in four years.

As the Huskies cut down the nets at Capital One Arena, they weren't shying away from it. "Three in four!" yelled Karaban.

Hurley, the last person to step up the ladder to the rim, put part of the net between his teeth and held up both of his hands.

Three fingers up on his right hand. Four fingers on his left hand.

UConn will head to Indianapolis looking to make history.