🎥 UConn MBB Postgame Media Availability - Big East Tournament (Georgetown)
NEW YORK –- UConn men’s basketball knocked off 11-seeded Georgetown, 67-51, in the Big East Tournament semifinals Friday night at Madison Square Garden. For the second time in the past six years, the Huskies advanced to the tournament finals, where they’ll meet St. John’s for a third time on Saturday night.
Braylon Mullins stole the show for the Husky offense, scoring 15 of his 21 in the first half to set the tempo. Jayden Ross had another big game off the bench, hitting two big threes in the second half to silence any momentum that the Hoyas tried to build.
UConn (29-4, 17-3) controlled the glass throughout and notched an assist on 21 of 28 field goals. Tarris Reed Jr. tied a career high with seven assists, finding cutting teammates from the top of the key all night long. On the defensive end, they forced the Hoyas to shoot just 2-16 from three (13%).
Georgetown (16-18, 6-14) came into the day riding the high of its Cinderella week at the Garden, pulling off a pair of upsets the previous two nights, including a shocking 14-point win over Villanova in the quarterfinals. But they took their worst loss of the season against UConn after playing them close the first two times.
The Husky offense got out to a fast start, as Mullins scored five during a 7-0 burst to begin the game.
Georgetown went for a 10-6 stretch from that Mullins three up until the under-12 media timeout, but Alex Karaban answered right out of the break with a three to put the Huskies back up 16-10.
The defense had a pair of impressive plays during the next segment. Reed swatted what looked like an easy Georgetown dunk, and even though it didn’t turn into immediate points, it shifted the momentum. A couple of trips later, Demary Jr. got a steal near center court and did a give-and-go with Ross for a transition flush that triggered a Cooley timeout, 20-12 with 8:44 left in the half.
Both sides would trade twos for a while, going from a 10-point UConn lead to an eight-point lead and back and forth. Mullins broke the trend, scoring back-to-back shots around the rim to push it to 12 at 32-20. The freshman finished the first half with 15 points on 7-12 shooting, the main reason that the Huskies took a 32-21 lead into the intermission.
Ball opened the second half scoring for the Huskies, nailing a sidestep three to make it 35-23. After the shot went in, double technical fouls were assigned to Jeremiah Williams and Silas Demary Jr. after getting tied up.
Reed would pass out of a double team and find Mullins for an open three, then, after a quick response from Vince Iwuchukwu, Demary knocked down a three for his first points of the night. Iwuchukwu would score yet again before the media timeout, giving the Huskies a 41-29 lead at the under-16.
The Hoyas cut it to eight at 43-35, but Ross hit a timely three to just beat the shot clock buzzer and get the lead back into double digits by the next timeout. Coincidentally, the same thing happened before the next timeout as well. Georgetown got it to 48-40, and Ross buried another triple, this time mocking the Hoya three-point celebration running down the floor and making it 53-42 after a pair of baskets from the centers by the next stoppage.
Eric Reibe would make his presence known after Reed picked up his fourth foul, scoring a pair of his four field goals late and blocking a key shot to give UConn the ball up 59-46 with less than five minutes to play.
With the Huskies up 13, Demary found Karaban to push it to 15 for the first time with three minutes to play. After Mullins split a pair of technical free throws, Demary buried another three to make it 67-48 and ice the game. In the end, UConn walked away with a 67-51 win to move on to the championship on Saturday night for the first time since 2024.
Mullins finished with 20 or more points for the third time in his career, joining the 24 he had on the road at Providence and the 25 he had at home against Creighton. Friday was the second time in the past 20 years that a UConn freshman had 20+ in a Big East Tournament game, joining Jerome Dyson in 2007.
UConn only took four free throws in the win, by far the fewest attempts it had in a game this season. Mullins took all of them, knocking down three.
Next up, the Huskies are set to face top-seeded St. John’s in the Big East Tournament Championship Game on Saturday night. Tip-off is set for 6:30 p.m. on FOX. UConn is looking for its record-breaking ninth BET crown, which would break a tie with Georgetown.
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