It was an uphill battle for UConn on Sunday. The second-seeded Huskies started the game going 1-for-18 from 3-point range and trailed top-seeded seed Duke by double digits with 6:37 remaining in the second half. That’s when things took a turn for the better.
UConn pulled off a stunning comeback, thanks to its gritty culture, which has been curated since the preseason and developed to come through in moments like Sunday’s Elite Eight 73-72 win over the Blue Devils.
“It takes a strong team … a tough team … tough men,” UConn coach Dan Hurley said in the postgame press conference. “We run a very intense program. We’re on these guys. We stress them in practice.
“We put a lot of pressure on them on a daily basis, to do the right things, to do everything at game speed, to do everything hard, to do everything tough [and] to be ready — as a result of that is what it takes to win video games like this.”
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UConn went down early, falling behind 40-21 within the first half whereas Duke “punched us within the mouth,” in keeping with Hurley. Duke freshman Cameron Boozer was dominating the sport on either side, and the Blue Devils took a 15-point lead into the break. The Huskies minimize the margin to single digits with 6:07 remaining within the second half when Silas Demary Jr. knocked down back-to-back 3s. Demary epitomized the “powerful males” Hurley was referring to, as he sustained a high-ankle sprain within the Big East Match and returned lower than two weeks later.
Tarris Reed Jr. scored a layup, then dished a candy go to Solo Ball for one more layup earlier than Ball transformed a three-point play that minimize the margin to 2. Duke answered, extending the margin to 5 and taking a two-point lead into its remaining possession. The Blue Devils simply wanted to get fouled and convert on the line to seal the sport. As a substitute, UConn’s ball strain flummoxed Duke.
As a substitute of letting himself get fouled, Cayden Boozer tried to flee strain with a go excessive of two defenders. Demary tipped it, Braylon Mullins collected it and handed it alongside to Alex Karaban, who gave it proper again, deferring to the freshman for the decisive shot.
“It is nonetheless a lack of phrases, nonetheless processing all [that] simply occurred,” Mullins mentioned after the sport. “I had the ball, and I do know [Alex Karaban] had simply hit one. So I threw him the ball with 4 seconds left, and he simply threw the ball again to me.
“I knew I needed to put one up. Man, I am simply blissful that is the one which went down tonight.”
Mullins, like his teammates, had struggled from 3-point vary earlier within the recreation, lacking his first 4 makes an attempt from deep. Nevertheless, he made the one which counted most. That is what UConn did collectively Sunday — confirmed up when it counted.
In what Hurley referred to as “one other epic chapter within the UConn-Duke NCAA Match dramatics”, the Huskies caught with it and got here out on high. “You are having a very unhealthy taking pictures evening … however what kicks in is only a bunch of robust males, a powerful crew, gamers that permit their coaches coach them exhausting and put together them for powerful moments,” Hurley mentioned.
