Braylon Mullins Hits Shot Off His Life To Help UConn Huskies Beat Duke Blue Devils To Advance To Final Four
Thirty-six years. For nearly four decades, the ghost of Christian Laettner’s legendary buzzer-beater has haunted the nightmares of Huskies fans, a painful reminder of NCAA Tournament heartbreak. But on Sunday night in Washington D.C., a freshman named Braylon Mullins performed a long-overdue exorcism.
In a game that will be replayed on tournament highlight reels until the end of time, UConn pulled off the unthinkable. They erased a massive 19-point deficit to shock top-seeded Duke 73-72 in the Elite Eight, securing their third trip to the Final Four in just four years.
If you turned your television off at halftime, no one would blame you. But you missed an absolute classic.
A First Half To Forget For UConn
For the first 20 minutes of this East Regional Final, the Blue Devils looked like an unstoppable force. Cameron Boozer, the runaway favorite for National Player of the Year, was doing whatever he wanted on the hardwood. He was bullying defenders in the paint, hitting from deep, and dishing out cross-court dimes like a seasoned NBA veteran. He finished his final college game with 27 points, 8 rebounds, and 4 assists.
Meanwhile, UConn could not buy a bucket from beyond the arc. They headed into the locker room shooting a miserable 1-for-11 from three-point land, staring down a 15-point halftime deficit that had ballooned to 19 at its worst. Duke Head Coach Jon Scheyer had his squad humming, and the Huskies looked completely gassed. The reigning kings of college basketball were on the ropes, and the knockout punch felt inevitable.
The Comeback: Digging Out Of the Hole
But Dan Hurley doesn’t coach teams that roll over. Instead of panicking, UConn leaned heavily on big man Tarris Reed Jr. The senior center put the team on his back, trading blows with Duke’s frontcourt to the tune of 26 crucial points. Reed’s sheer physicality inside kept the game from slipping into blowout territory, buying enough time for his teammates to finally wake up.
With just over seven minutes left, Silas Demary Jr. decided it was time to make things interesting. The guard drilled consecutive three-pointers from the corners, shrinking the Duke lead to a single possession. Suddenly, the momentum violently shifted. When Alex Karaban finally connected on a three-pointer after missing his first five attempts, the building was shaking.
The Braylon Mullins Shot Heard ‘Round the World
Even with the furious rally, UConn was down 72-70 with a mere 10 seconds left on the clock. Duke had the ball. All they had to do was inbound it, hit some free throws, and pack their bags for Indianapolis.
Instead, absolute chaos ensued.
Demary managed to deflect a pass from Cayden Boozer near midcourt. Karaban pounced on the loose ball, frantically surveying the floor as the clock ticked down. He found Mullins, a freshman who had barely made a dent in the scoring column all night. Standing 35 feet from the basket, Mullins didn’t hesitate. He let it fly.
The ball arced through the air and found nothing but the bottom of the net with 0.4 seconds remaining. Ballgame. A March hero was born, and the UConn bench erupted into pure bedlam.
Jon Scheyer and the Blue Devil Heartbreak
While UConn celebrated a miracle, the fallout on the other side of the court was brutal. Duke fans watched a surefire Final Four bid evaporate in real time.
Almost immediately, the internet did what the internet does best: it ruthlessly roasted Scheyer. Despite hauling in elite recruiting classes year after year, Scheyer’s second-half coaching decisions were placed under a microscope. Letting a 19-point lead slip away in an Elite Eight game is the kind of collapse that stings for a lifetime, and Duke fans were not shy about voicing their frustration over another devastating choke.
What’s Next For UConn In the Final Four?
With the ghosts of 1990 put to rest, the Huskies are officially heading to Indianapolis. Next up? A highly anticipated Saturday showdown with the Illinois Fighting Illini at Lucas Oil Stadium.
UConn has proven they can win ugly, they can win pretty, and they can win when the basketball gods demand a miracle. If this 19-point comeback showed us anything, it’s that you can never, ever count Hurley’s squad out. The quest for a third national title in four years is alive and well.
