Indiana's own Braylon Mullins launched a buzzer-beating three-pointer, sending UConn to the Final Four and Mullins goes home as a hero.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — There are a lot of college freshman who get homesick that first year out on their own. They long to get back to what they grew up with.
Connecticut freshman Braylon Mullins is no different. He's just taking a different path back to his Indiana home.
A historic path.
Mullins, a Greenfield, Ind. native, hit a 30-foot three-pointer in the final second on Sunday, giving his Huskies a stunning — and shocking — 73-72 victory over No. 1 overall seek Duke in the East Regional championship game. Duke blew a 19-point lead, and led by 15 at halftime.
It's the first time in the history of the NCAA Tournament that a No. 1 seed blew a halftime lead that large. They've been seeding this event since 1979.
With Mullins' shot, UConn now heads to the Final Four in Indianapolis, Ind. It'll be the happiest of homecomings for Mullins and his family.
Here's the game story from UConn Roundtable writer Jami Leabow.
UConn couldn't make anything most of the game, hitting just one of their first 18 three-pointers. But they made four of their last five for a most improbably comback.
“You never get to practice those type of shots,” said Mullins, the 2025 Indiana Mr. Basketball who will now play a Final Four in Indianapolis, just a few dozen miles west of his Greenfield, Ind. high school. “And I think those shots just come around. Now, just being cemented in history is just a crazy, crazy feeling.”
UConn had the most difficult challenge of any of the Final Four teams. They had to beat No. 3 seed Michigan State on Friday night, and then knocked off Duke, the No. 1 overall seed, on Sunday.
“I’m not sure a lot of people had us getting out of this region,” UConn coach Danny Hurley said. “Especially because of the performance in the Big East championship, blowing it at Marquette late in the year, blowing the regular-season (championship). But we made up for it today, and obviously, in this tournament, we have a lot of confidence.”