INDIANAPOLIS – The UConn men’s basketball season ended with maize and blue confetti falling on Michigan Monday night. The Huskies waited out the Wolverines’ initial celebration to shake hands before heading back to a tough, emotional locker room, where they stayed past midnight.
On Tuesday, the transfer portal opened and it would be time for some tough decisions to be considered.
“I imagine I’ll be in meetings tomorrow,” coach Dan Hurley said, laughing at the reality. “There won’t be a quick two-day vacation with the wife… No, we’ll be – (general manager) Tom Moore time.”
For freshman Braylon Mullins, the decision will be whether he decides to enter the NBA Draft. Mullins is projected to be a mid-first round pick and could potentially hear his name called in the lottery. Bleacher Report had him at No. 9 overall to the Chicago Bulls in its mock draft on Tuesday, and USA Today pegged him at No. 15 to join the Huskies’ last one-and-done, Liam McNeeley, with the Charlotte Hornets.
“I think just being in the present right now, trying to get over this hump and have the rest, it’s gonna feel good, I think the body definitely needs that,” Mullins said, fighting through tears at his locker after the championship game. “I don’t know what my future holds. I’ll do whatever makes me a better person and a player.”
Mullins will forever be known for his last-second, game-winning shot from 35 feet to complete the 19-point comeback and beat Duke in the Elite Eight, sending the Huskies back to his home state for the Final Four.
He had 15 points and four 3-pointers in the win over Illinois when he got there and scored 11 with seven rebounds as the Huskies kept the game close with Michigan Monday night. Mullins finished his freshman season averaging 12.0 points, 3.5 rebounds and 1.4 assists per game and shooting 33.5% from beyond the arc – a number that took a serious hit with a shooting slump that lasted until the Final Four.
“He played like a man,” Hurley said. “Braylon shouldered a lot of what we needed on offense, as a perimeter defender, just a lot of responsibilities for such a young player. So much was asked of him and he handled it like a champ. Like a humble kid who’s got great parents and came from a great high school coach, so yeah, he’s a special guy.”
“He’s been one of my favorite teammates,” Alex Karaban said. “Just the maturity that he has as a freshman, just who he is as a person, it’s just fun being around Braylon Mullins. I know it’s gonna sting right now for him, but it’s a memory he’s going to have forever, being in the Final Four in his home state. He’s gonna look back at it in 30 years and be proud of it. There’s always going to be this moment that stings, but regardless I’m always proud of Braylon, just what he’s done this whole year.”
Hurley gives his thoughts on the officiating
Hurley wasn’t going to bring it up, but it had to be asked.
There were 11 fouls called on the Huskies in the first half on Monday night to just five on Michigan. The Wolverines shot 12 free throws before the break and made 11, while UConn went 4 of 6 from the line.
The disparity, Michigan finishing the game plus-13 from the charity stripe, was the difference in the game, and it also forced the Huskies to manage early foul trouble to lead guards Silas Demary Jr. and Solo Ball, as well as center Tarris Reed Jr.
“It’s not the reason why we lost the game. Obviously plus-13 at the free-throw line, plus-12 in attempts. I just thought that the first-half foul trouble really — I thought we were positioned if we didn’t have that foul trouble to potentially go into halftime with a lead,” Hurley said. “You go in with a lead and they make a run, you’re down five instead of 11. But we also, too, a problem for our team has been undisciplined fouling at times. But it’s hard to ref that game. We both played so hard. That’s not an easy game to officiate. If I could have those three guys ref every game the rest of my career, I would sleep well at night.”
“What I’m gonna do is I’m gonna go back to the hotel and I’m going to watch the game,” he said. “It’s part of it. Sometimes you get a good whistle, sometimes you don’t … Solo was the one guy that was shooting well along with AK, so that foul trouble hurt. And then obviously not having Tarris in there to deal with those guys was tough.”
Bidding farewell to Luke Murray
Hurley almost got emotional talking about assistant coach Luke Murray as he was introduced as the new head coach at Boston College before the Huskies left for the Final Four. Murray, 41, began his college coaching career in 2007 as the director of basketball operations at Quinnipiac under Tom Moore, and was hired by Hurley at Wagner in 2010, when he was just 24 years old. The two coached together at Rhode Island and reunited at UConn in 2021.
“Luke is like a brother. We’re both very similar. We’re both hard to work with,” Hurley said Monday night, laughing. “No, we’re very similar though. We’re like the same person, and we’re both bald. He’s a brother. He’s worked with me at every place I’ve been. We’ve made each other better. We’ve got a deep friendship. Boston College is about to have a renaissance in basketball.”
