March Madness hero Braylon Mullins leads UConn back to national championship game with victory over Illinois
The town of Greenfield, Indiana is located 30 minutes east of Indianapolis. In that community, they recently renamed two roads after its most famous resident.Just up the road from 'Braylon Avenue' is 'Mullins Street.' Whether these signs will only be temporary or permanent is to be determined. But it's hard to imagine any television in those homes on those roads in such a basketball mad state was not tuned in to watch the 6-foot-6 freshman play the biggest game of his life.Braylon Mullins' miracle shot against Duke got the Connecticut Huskies to this stage. Back home again in Indiana, he needed to pull out similarly strong stuff to bring UConn back to the national title game.With all eyes on him and the pressure of a building which was half against him, Mullins remained dominant and hit clutch shot after clutch shot to help send UConn back to basketball's biggest stage via a 71-62 victory.Mullins dropped 15 points and drilled a game-leading four triples in a re-tread of the Huskies' victory in the Elite Eight. Center Tarris Reed led UConn in overall scoring with 17 points.Connecticut is now back in its third title game in four years. They're the first program in NCAA history to reach three championship games in a four-year span since Rick Pitino's 1996-1999 University of Kentucky teams. The Connecticut Huskies are heading back to the national championship after beating Illinois Indiana native Braylon Mullins dropped a game high four triples to pull out a 71-62 victory The Huskies built up a big enough lead to stave off damage from an Illinois comebackThe first contest of the night in Indianapolis was a re-match of an earlier season matchup on Black Friday at Madison Square Garden. On the surface, perhaps the 13-point Huskies win could have predicted how this game would go.But both teams had players hampered by injury. Illinois saw minutes restrictions placed upon Jake Davis and promising freshman Keaton Wagler. Meanwhile, UConn saw only a combined 25 minutes from Reed and Mullins, the latter of whom made his debut in that game.Much has changed since that afternoon in New York City. For Illinois, Davis carved himself out a tidy little role off the bench while Wagler became one of the best freshmen in the nation. On the other hand, Connecticut struggled in their conference schedule despite a strong start in their non-conference slate.Come March, UConn's struggles became manageable. Reed's performances vaulted him into the same stratosphere as Hakeem Olajuwon and Shaquille O'Neal. Mullins slowly built his strength and hit a purple patch late in the third month of the year - capped off by that buzzer-beater to get the Huskies this far.By the time the two teams arrived at Lucas Oil Stadium, Illinois was declared the favorites despite UConn's better pedigree and earlier win: 'You're coming into the game as an underdog versus a team that you beat by 13 points earlier in the season, which was kind of surprising,' Hurley said after the game. UConn coach Dan Hurley demands an explanation to a call from referee Ron GrooverPart of that was Illinois' highly efficient offense, but there was also favorable geography. The Illini are close to Indianapolis and orange shirts dotted the stands throughout the building.It didn't have any affect on Connecticut at the start as the Huskies built up a nine point lead early. Reed was initially undeterred by the Illini's sizable centers and Mullins' shooting started with promise.Illinois did eventually claw back to build a small lead, but at the half, the Huskies rode their center and their freshman to an eight point advantage. To that point, Illinois had shot a cold 21 percent from deep. Connecticut extended the lead up to eleven by the time of the first media timeout of the second half. To that point, Mullins had missed his first three attempts while Silas Demary Jr, Alex Karaban and Solo Ball logged points.The lead remained double-digits with less than 12 minutes remaining, but the Huskies started to rack up misses and turnovers. UConn's irascible coach, Dan Hurley, asked referees Paul Szelc and Marques Pettigrew for answers on missed calls - prompting Illinois fans to demand a technical foul. Mullins' hot start was followed by a cold spell. But a crucially timed triple clinched the victory.UConn's physical defense often leads to more foul calls than the average team. By the 8:41 mark, they committed ten team fouls to hit the double bonus. When they finally reduced the lead from double digits to eight points, Illinois committed their seventh team foul to put Connecticut in the single bonus. The Fighting Illini kept the game in reach down the stretch as time moved slowly for UConn and the shots didn't fall. When Illinois trimmed the deficit to four points, the Huskies had gone 4:44 without scoring while the orange-clad men had scored ten straight points - mostly from free throws.Connecticut fixed that quickly, but didn't pull away by much. With 1:38 to go, Illinois trimmed the deficit to four. In need of an insurance basket, the Huskies hauled in an offensive rebound then turned to Mullins for a much-needed triple to extend the lead to seven. It would be the only shot he hit in the second half. 'You've just got to shoot with confidence,' Mullins said when asked by Daily Mail about his late game struggle.'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.' Mullins (24) and Hurley celebrate with UConn fans after booking a spot in the title gameWagler responded with a quick 3-pointer of his own. An Illini foul sent Demary to the line where the North Carolina native sank both shots to build the lead to six. Wagler's desperation triple missed and UConn rebounded. More foul shots followed, more Illinois shots missed. The horn sounded and the Huskies returned to a place where they've become comfortable.Mullins and Hurley butted heads, a nod to the coach's interaction with an official, leading to a chorus of boo's from Illinois fans.After the game, Hurley was unapologetic: 'Just couldn't be more proud of my guys and how hard they fought when most people probably didn't think we were going to win the game, or at least a little bit of what I saw on TV today, you know, TNT and some of the different prognostications.''I had to throw some shade.'
