Braylon Mullins' Dagger Lifts UConn Past Duke in Elite Eight Classic

Kyle WoodMon, March 30, 2026 at 3:54 AM UTC

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WASHINGTON — Every UConn pregame shootaround ends with a made half-court shot. On Sunday, hours before the Huskies’ Elite Eight game against Duke, it was Silas Demary Jr. who hit the heave to close out the session.

“I guess you could say we work on it,” said Demary.

It’s hardly a high-percentage shot, which is why it takes a handful of tries for even high-level college basketball players to hit. Hoopers all over cook up scenarios in their head of connecting on that long-range, last-second attempt. Most of those dreams play out in driveways and empty gyms with nary a soul around to see.

Three, two, one…

Athletes at all levels have dreamed about this scenario. UConn’s Braylon Mullins has, too. Except on Sunday, the clock really was running down. And there were 19,502 fans crowding Capital One Arena, all watching as Mullins let it fly from a few steps inside half court, just off the March Madness logo. They call it that for a reason.

UConn Huskies guard Braylon Mullins celebrates after making the winning 3-point basket against the Duke Blue Devils in an Elite Eight NCAA Tournament game in Washington on March 29, 2026.Geoff Burke-Imagn Images (Geoff Burke-Imagn Images)

Mullins hit the shot. The Shot, as it might be called around Storrs, Connecticut, for years to come. Mullins said in the ensuing chaos that he thought his heave had tied the game, but it actually put the Huskies ahead, 73-72. The Blue Devils had less than a second to respond, and they couldn’t get a shot off.

Ballgame. History. Madness? Oh yeah.

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“That's an epic,” Huskies coach Dan Hurley said. “Just another chapter in the UConn-Duke NCAA Tournament dramatics.”

It took some time for the celebration to wind down — confetti fell, Final Four hats were donned and every celebratory song in the book blasted. Eventually, UConn players climbed the ladder, one by one, to cut down the net. Mullins went last, happy to reunite with the nylon he had miraculously found from some 40 feet away.

Mullins said he didn’t make his half-court attempt in warmups. But he made it when it mattered. And he’ll always have a piece that piece of net with him — just like he’ll always have that moment.

“The Indiana kid sent us to Indianapolis,” said senior captain Alex Karaban, credited with the assist on the game-winner.

The UConn Huskies hoist the East Region trophy after their Elite Eight NCAA Tournament win over the Duke Blue Devils in Washington on March 29, 2026.Geoff Burke-Imagn Images (Geoff Burke-Imagn Images)

Mullins, a freshman from Greenfield, Indiana, had missed his first four 3-point tries of the game. At one point, UConn was 1-for-18 from deep. But he didn’t have time to consider the odds or his team’s poor performance up to that point from behind the arc — much less Steph Curry range.

Once the ball left his hands, Mullins said everything felt like slow motion. But the seconds before that unfolded at a frenetic pace. The inbound, the double team, the steal.

It briefly looked as if the game would come down to Karaban. The UConn captain and two-time champion had a look at the basket after Mullins passed the ball ahead to him. Like the rest of his teammates, he had a tough shooting night to that point. Though he had just found the bottom of the net a few possessions prior, Karaban saw 6-foot-9 Cameron Boozer in front of him and didn’t like his chances, so he threw it back to Mullins for the win.

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“When I saw him release it, I was like, ‘That really might go in,’” Karaban said.

If all of that sounds improbable, consider that the Huskies trailed by as many as 19 points in the first half. Karaban went into halftime scoreless with his team down 15. But two nights earlier in the Sweet 16, UConn had built a 19-point lead on No. 3 Michigan State only to see the Spartans claw all the way back in a game that was also decided in the final minute.

Just as the Huskies had blown that lead, they began to chip into Duke’s. Karaban’s first points cut the deficit to single digits. And Demary drained a pair of corner 3-pointers in the second half to get the lid off the basket, paving the way for Karaban and Mullins’ heroics down the stretch.

“We fought, we clawed, put ourselves in position to take advantage of a mistake that they made,” Hurley said. “And one of the most brilliant shooters you'll ever see shoot a basketball made an incredible, legendary March shot.”

UConn Huskies head coach Dan Hurley celebrates after cutting down the net following his team's Elite Eight NCAA Tournament win over the Duke Blue Devils in Washington on March 29, 2026.Amber Searls-Imagn Images (Amber Searls-Imagn Images)

Hurley said the game was a microcosm of No. 3 UConn’s season. Resilience, fortitude — all those kinds of coach-speak words that turn even a skeptic into a believer when you consider what the past few years of Huskies hoops have looked like.

“Three out of four” was the main message out of UConn in the throes of the postgame celebration, as in the Huskies have now been to three of the last four Finals Fours. The last two trips in 2023 and 2024 saw Hurley and Co. cut down the nets after two national titles. Only UCLA under John Wooden has ever won three championships in a four-year span.

UConn (33-5) is still two wins away from another title. Next up is the No. 3 seed from the South Region, Illinois, a tough team the Huskies beat back in November (6:09 p.m. ET on TBS). And on the other side of the bracket is a heavyweight matchup between No. 1 seeds Arizona and Michigan (8:49 p.m. ET on TBS).

Hurley conceded this team is not like the ones that went back-to-back. Those groups were dominant, hardly needing any Mullins-level heroics to put a game away. They rolled through the tournament, leaving wreckage in their wake.

"We've had to win a lot of close games throughout the year," Hurley said. "And I think that that honestly just gave us a level of comfortability in a game that it's a one-possession game, it's a two-possession game, we've been in this spot before."

This road has been harder, particularly in the regional, where both UConn games were decided in the clutch. But that also might make the success that much sweeter.

Whatever awaits the Huskies in Indianapolis, a few miles away from where Mullins grew up dreaming of playing in the Big Dance, they'll always have this night in the nation's capital when he brought new meaning to March Madness.

UConn Huskies players congratulate Braylon Mullins after his last-second 3-pointer in an Elite Eight NCAA Tournament game against the Duke Blue Devils in Washington on March 29, 2026.

Amber Searls-Imagn Images

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This story was originally published by Athlon Sports on Mar 30, 2026, where it first appeared in the College Basketball section. Add Athlon Sports as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

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