How Braylon Mullins last-second 3 completed the comeback
UConn did not play like a Final Four team for most of the night. Duke led 44-29 at halftime, stretched the margin back to 17 early in the second half and still held a 10-point edge with a little more than six minutes left. But the official box score shows how the Huskies stayed attached: Tarris Reed Jr. finished with 26 points, nine rebounds and four blocks, and UConn turned Duke mistakes into 20 points.
The comeback became real only in the final minute. Karaban, who had missed his first five tries from deep, hit a 3-pointer to cut the lead to 70-69 with 50.5 seconds left. Demary made one of two free throws with 10 seconds remaining, and the Huskies got the stop they had been chasing all evening.
Even then, the ending was hard to explain. UConn finished just 5 of 23 from 3-point range, while Duke brought a 14-game winning streak into the regional final, as Reuters reported. The Blue Devils still got 27 points from Cameron Boozer and 15 points with six assists from Cayden Boozer, but the final turnover erased the value of an otherwise strong night.
The scale of the collapse mattered, too. The Associated Press reported that Duke’s 44-29 halftime lead became the largest halftime lead ever blown by a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament, which is why Mullins’ shot already feels bigger than a normal buzzer-beater.
What the players and coaches said
Mullins did not try to sell the moment as destiny afterward. In postgame remarks reported by CT Insider, he said he was “still processing what happened” after the sequence broke his way. Karaban said he trusted his instinct when he gave the ball back to Mullins, and coach Dan Hurley called it “an incredible legendary March shot.”
Hurley’s reaction made sense. UConn shot poorly from deep for most of the night and still found a way to keep the game from breaking open. The Huskies defended, rebounded and stayed close enough for one clean look to matter.
Why this moment feels like part of a bigger story
Mullins’ winner landed harder because it fit the build-up around him. When he committed to UConn in October 2024, ESPN described the 6-foot-6 guard as a top-25 recruit who chose Dan Hurley’s program over Indiana and North Carolina. That commitment framed him as the kind of perimeter talent expected to matter in March.
His final high school season only added to that expectation. The Greenfield Reporter chronicled Mullins winning Indiana Mr. Basketball in April 2025, a hometown milestone that made Sunday’s finish feel like the biggest stage yet for a player with a long shooting reputation.
What comes next for UConn
UConn now heads to the Final Four against Illinois with a chance to keep another title run alive. Duke controlled the game for long stretches. UConn controlled the final 0.4 seconds.
That is what this tournament will remember: Mullins catching the return pass, setting his feet from near the logo and turning a 73-72 escape into one of the defining shots of March.
