No. 1 Duke led No. 2 UConn by a score of 72-70 in the Elite Eight of the men’s NCAA Tournament. Duke just needed to salt away 10 more seconds.
Duke freshman guard Cayden Boozer collected an outlet pass with around seven seconds left, but when he went to heave it to a wide-open Patrick Ngongba II, his pass was deflected. UConn freshman guard Braylon Mullins grabbed the loose ball, passed it to Alex Karaban, who passed it back to Mullins.
Mullins launched a logo three. An unreal photograph captured a sea of faces in the moment before Mullins’ shot swished through the net with 0.3 seconds remaining in regulation to send UConn to the Final Four.
Mullins’ mother was not one of those faces.
Josh Mullins, Braylon’s father and high school basketball coach, explained on Wednesday during The Field of 68’s livestream.
“We’re sitting there — my wife wouldn’t watch,” he said. “She put her head in her lap. She missed [it]. I was like, ‘That’s good.’ As soon as he shot it, I knew when they let him walk into the three, I was like, ‘That’s good.’ But then, it took 10 minutes, it seemed like, to get there. Then, it went in, and obviously, everybody erupted.”
Mullins is cemented as a UConn legend, but this time last year, he was a five-star recruit out of Green-Central. He was named Indiana’s 2025 Mr. Basketball and a McDonald’s All-American.
“When I saw him release it, I was like, ‘That really might go in,'” UConn senior forward Alex Karaban told reporters after the game. “It went in, and the Indiana kid is sending us to Indianapolis.”
UConn will face No. 3 Illinois in the Final Four at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis on Saturday. The Huskies are going for their third national title in four years under head coach Dan Hurley. They won back-to-back in 2023 and 2024.
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