Braylon Mullins and the UConn Huskies gave a full meaning to the March Madness.
The freshman shooting guard became the man of the hour after drilling a game-winning 3-pointer from near half court to pull off an upset win over the No. 1 seed Duke. The Blue Devils led wire to wire, but the Huskies climbed from a 19-point deficit to stun their foes.
The action in the last few seconds of this game looked like it was taken straight out of a cheesy sports movie. Duke went up by as much as 19 points, 44-25, with over three minutes left in the first half, and settled for a 15-point cushion after 20 minutes.
At this point, the Blue Devils appeared poised to punch a ticket to the national semifinal for the third time over the last five years and two in a row. Their defense out on the perimeter gave the Huskies fits. UConn shot only 1-for-11 from rainbow territory in the first half and bricked seven more to start the second.
Nonetheless, missed 3-pointers be damned, the Huskes made a push slowly, but surely. Tarris Reed Jr.'s slam dunk cut the lead to seven, 56-49, with nearly 11 minutes left. UConn's rally shifted into full gear down the stretch. Silas DeMarry hit back-to-back 3s, Reed Jr. made another bucket, and Solo Ball converted an and-one off a steal to cut the deficit to a deuce, 67-65.
From there, it was just clutch play after clutch play. Duke gave themselves a bit of a cushion at 70-66 with 1:20 left to play, but Alex Karaban , who can't buy a basket the whole game, miraculously drilled a deep one after shooting 1-for-9. Karaban's rainbow conversion pushed UConn within one, 70-69, with only 45 ticks left.
Cameron Boozer 's two free throws and DeMarry's split on the other end made it 72-70 to set the stage for the most unbelievable play so far this year.
As the Blue Devils safely inbounded the rock to Cam, the projected high lottery pick passed out of the quick double team to Dame Sarr. Sarr safely got the ball to Cayden Boozer near mid-court, but the he made a mortal mistake.
Instead of holding on to the ball and waiting for a foul, Cayden tried to lob it up high to one of his two open teammates in the front court. That was the exact reaction Karaban and Mullins had been waiting for.
After the latter deflected the leather and secured the possession, he played hot potato with the former and got the ball back with less than two seconds remaining. Mullins, realizing he barely had time left, flung the ball in desperation and hit nothing but not. Game over!
"Man, it's still a loss of words. I'm still processing what just happened," Mullins, who finished with 10 points, said in the postgame conference.
And just like that, Boozer, expected to go no later than number three come June, is out of the tournament. The other pair of elite prospects, AJ Dybantsa and Darryn Patterson, already fell short in the previous rounds.
Nonetheless, Boozer made a good account of himself. He tallied a double-double in every tournament game except the loss to the Huskies. He finished with a game-high 27, but "only" grabbed eight boards and added four assists.
"Just another chapter in the UConn-Duke NCAA Tournament dramatics," Huskies head coach Dan Hurley said . "Obviously, a really tough way for their season to end. I thought they played great. I thought they punched us in the mouth with incredible force."
As the tournament name suggests, the end of that game was utter madness and we're all here for it.
This story was originally published by Basketball Network on Mar 30, 2026, where it first appeared in the College section. Add Basketball Network as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
