Coach Dan Hurley’s No. 2-seeded UConn Huskies stunned the No. 1-seeded Duke Blue Devils 73-72 in the Elite Eight on Sunday to advance to the Final Four. The Blue Devils, headlined by star Cameron Boozer, led the Huskies by up to 19 points before freshman guard Braylon Mullins’ 3-pointer completed the comeback for Hurley’s team.
What Dan Hurley Said About UConn’s Comeback Win Over Duke
According to ESPN analytics, the Blue Devils had a massive 98.7% chance to win the game against the Huskies with 0.4 seconds left. In addition, No. 1 seeds’ all-time NCAA Tournament record when leading by 15 or more points at halftime was 134-0 before the Elite Eight against UConn.
During his postgame news conference, Hurley hailed his team’s grit in the historic comeback to bump off the favorites for the national championship.
“It takes a strong team, a tough team, tough men,” Hurley said. “We run a very intense program. We’re on these guys. We stress them in practice.
“We put a lot of pressure on them daily, to do the right things, to do everything at game speed, to do everything hard, to do everything tough [and] to be prepared because that’s what it takes to win games like this.”
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The Huskies shot 1 of 18 from beyond the arc and fell into a 40-21 hole in the first half, going into the break with a massive 44-29 deficit. Transfer Silas Demary Jr. and Tarris Reed went to work in the second half, helping the Huskies mount their comeback.
With 10 seconds to go, the Blue Devils led by 2 points, and Cayden Boozer tried to escape the Huskies’ blitz, surrendering possession to Demary’s tip. Mullins secured the ball, passing it to Alex Karaban, who set up the freshman for a historic game-winning 3-pointer.
While speaking to reporters after the game, Mullins broke down the process that birthed his game-winning shot over Duke.
“It’s still a loss of words, still processing all [that] just happened,” Mullins said. “I had the ball, and I know [Alex Karaban] had just hit one. So I threw him the ball with four seconds left, and he just threw the ball back to me. I knew I had to put one up. Man, I’m just happy that’s the one that went down tonight.”
The Huskies will face the No. 3-seeded Illinois Fighting Illini, who beat the No. 9-seeded Iowa Hawkeyes in the Elite Eight on Saturday, with a chance to reach their third national championship game in the last four years.
