PHILADELPHIA – Furman guard Eddrin Bronson was doing anything he could to create separation with the ball and set up the Paladins’ offense in the first half of Friday’s NCAA Tournament opener against UConn, but Alec Millender wouldn’t give him any breathing room.
Bronson had no choice but to give the ball up near half court and Jayden Ross read it like a book, reaching into the passing lane and knocking the ball free. In one motion he went to the floor, collected the ball, rolled over and tossed it up to Millender to start an opportunity in transition. The little-used, third-string point guard went straight to the basket, drew a bump from Bronson and flicked the ball toward the hoop.
The ball hit off the very top of the backboard, came down off the front of the rim and bounced straight through the net.
“Special moment,” Ross said. “Credit to him, I saw he was pressuring heavy by half court, so I was like, ‘Let me feed off that energy a little bit.’ Was able to get into the passing lane, got tripped up, thought I was gonna have an open court, wasn’t the case, kind of lost it again, dove on it and found Alec immediately… He was able to go finish the play through contact. It was an amazing moment for a guy like that, man, he’s put his heart and soul into this program for us and it doesn’t always get recognized. So for him to be able to have that moment, it meant a lot for us. I would say it gave us a little bit of momentum in the game, it was definitely a cool moment.”
JRoss diving steal. Alec with the finish + foul.
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Millender played in 104 college basketball games and scored 1,082 career points at Wayne State (Mich.) and IU Indianapolis before he came to UConn and accepted a role that wouldn’t involve much game action. He played in the Division II NCAA Tournament once as a freshman at Wayne State, scoring 15 points in a first-round loss to Minnesota State-Moorhead, but he joined the Huskies with a goal to win, to experience the Big Dance on a contending team.
An end-of-the-bench, culture piece with a hilarious personality, Millender didn’t expect that he would see meaningful minutes in a win-or-go-home game. But Silas Demary Jr.‘s high ankle sprain meant the Huskies would need him, and he was more than prepared to meet the moment.
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“I’m living in answered prayers,” he told The Courant after the Huskies advanced to the Round of 32. “This is something I dreamed of for so long. Just an amazing moment, exhilarating, it was just a blessing. It was amazing, it really was… I’ve worked so hard my whole career for moments like this. I felt like everything I’ve ever been through prepared me for this. All year long, I’ve battled with Silas, battled with Malachi (Smith), battled with Solo (Ball) – I’ve guarded Solo every day in practice.”
Millender, 24, saw action in 15 games this season and scored nine points in 3.1 minutes per game prior to Friday night. The wild transition bucket served as his first points since Dec. 21 in a blowout win at DePaul.
The team struggled outside of Tarris Reed Jr.‘s historic 31 points and 27 rebounds, and Alex Karaban‘s 22 points and four made 3-pointers. But Millender’s elation provided an extra lift to the mood, like he’s done all season.
“He brings the energy wherever you’re at, off the court or on the court, he’s always making people laugh, smile and he’s just very uplifting,” said freshman Braylon Mullins, who was a bit disappointed in the way his NCAA Tournament debut went, just 0-for-8 from beyond the arc. “I think that’s something that we needed on this team and he’s definitely the guy that you can go talk to and he will put a smile on your face. It’s great having him around.”
The Huskies hope to get Demary back, but in the meantime, the decision to fill the end of the bench with older, experienced players like Millender has paid off.
“I’m so happy for the guy,” said coach Dan Hurley. “I saw his dad on the way out to the bus to the hotel and his dad had a cigar in his mouth, so maybe that was a good sign that he was going to throw in a three-point play layup that was somewhere near the top of the board.”
“Right when he scored, I was kind of the first guy there to dap up, and the way he hit my hand, it was like, my hand was numb from how hard he hit it,” said freshman Eric Reibe, still looking for his first March Madness bucket. “It was great for all of us to see him get his first points like that.”
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