04/04/26 09:27:00
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04/04 21:25 CDT UConn and Hurley muscle their way to 3rd national title game in
4 seasons, beating Illinois 71-62
UConn and Hurley muscle their way to 3rd national title game in 4 seasons,
beating Illinois 71-62
By MICHAEL MAROT
AP Sports Writer
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) --- Dan Hurley had UConn ready for another Final Four fight
night. Once again, his Huskies scored a knockout.
Fabulous freshman Braylon Mullins made another last-minute 3-pointer --- his
only basket of the second half --- and the Huskies muscled their way past
Illinois 71-62 on Saturday to reach their third national championship game in
four years.
Tarris Reed Jr. had 17 points and 11 rebounds and Mullins finished with 15
points as the Huskies (34-5) rode strong inside play and tough defense to their
19th straight victory in the Sweet 16 or later rounds of the NCAA Tournament.
They'll face either Arizona or Michigan with a chance to win their seventh
national title, all since 1999, as Hurley tries to become the only active coach
with more than two championships.
"We're a tough program, we're a group of fighters," said Hurley, who won it all
in 2023 and 2024. "We've got incredible will. We go into these games, we're
ready for battle. For us, it's not a game that we're just kind of running
around in uniforms throwing the ball around, hoping it goes in. That's not what
we're doing out there. We're fighting. It's a life-and-death struggle for us to
get to Monday night for the opportunity to win a championship."
Mullins sent the Huskies past Duke, the top overall seed, in the Elite Eight
last weekend with the shot of the tourney --- a 35-foot 3-pointer with 0.4
seconds left. He was equally effective this time, a short drive from his
hometown of Greenfield, Indiana.
After Silas Demary Jr. secured an offensive rebound, Mullins hit a
catch-and-shoot 3 with 52 seconds left that gave UConn a 66-59 and thwarted
Illinois' late charge.
"The set was going to be run for anybody on the team. You've just got to shoot
with confidence," Mullins said. "Just trying to find the best look on the
floor, and I know our point guards are going to get us the ball, so I think
that was the biggest shot I hit tonight."
UConn needed it on a night star forward Alex Karaban struggled with his shot.
He had nine points on 1-of-8 shooting while adding four rebounds and four
assists as he tied Hurley's brother, Bobby, for second in career March Madness
victories by a player with 18. A win Monday also would make him the first
player since John Wooden's dominant UCLA teams in the 1960s and 1970s to finish
as a three-time champion.
Thanks in part to Karaban, the Huskies haven't lost a tournament game played
past the opening weekend since 2009, when they fell in the national semifinals
to Michigan State. With one more victory, they would break a tie with North
Carolina and move into third place alone in national titles, trailing only UCLA
(11) and Kentucky (eight).
Freshman guard Keaton Wagler had 20 points and eight rebounds to lead the
Fighting Illini (28-9), who reached their first Final Four since losing the
championship game to UNC in 2005.
Wagler and Mullins became the first pair of freshmen to top 15 points in a
Final Four game since Michael Jordan and Patrick Ewing in 1982.
"It's margins, they're so small," said Illinois' Brad Underwood, a 62-year-old
coaching lifer who reached his first Final Four. "Getting here is really hard.
Winning is really hard. It's why I have so much appreciation for Alex Karaban.
He's been to three of them. That's freaky. It's a rebound, it's a loose ball,
it's a ball rolling in, it's a banked 3."
Tomislav Ivisic had 16 points and seven rebounds for the Illini, who couldn't
replicate the blueprint that carried them to double-digit victories over Penn,
VCU, Houston and Iowa. Illinois made just 3 of 14 3-pointers in the first half
and finished 6 of 26 beyond the arc.
UConn took full advantage even though the Huskies had two long scoring droughts
--- nearly six minutes in the first half and more than six minutes in the
second. The latter allowed Illinois to charge back from its biggest deficit of
the season, 57-43 with 9:43 to play, to get within 57-53 with 5:03 remaining.
But the Huskies answered and closed it out at the free-throw line for their
fifth straight win in the series. UConn beat Illinois 74-61 on Nov. 28 in
Madison Square Garden, and now the Huskies have held the Illini to their two
lowest scoring totals and shooting percentages of the season. UConn also beat
Illinois 77-52 in the Elite Eight two years ago.
"We held them to 35 percent (shooting)," Underwood said. "They just made more
3s than we did."
And finished with a little more punch.
"The year hasn't been a joy ride," Hurley said. "We haven't been a machine of
destruction. We've been a team that's had to grind out games like this."
___
AP March Madness bracket: https://apnews.com/hub/ncaa-mens-bracket and
coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/march-madness
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