INDIANAPOLIS - UConn men’s basketball maintained control through Saturday night’s Final Four opener, knocking off Illinois 71-62 to advance to the seventh national championship game in program history.
Tarris Reed Jr. led the Huskies once again, posting a double-double after getting off to a fast start. He cooled off in the second half amid some foul trouble, but made sure they finished strong, hitting their first bucket in five minutes of game time with a lay-up to end an Illini run. The big man was also 4-of-4 from the free-throw line in the final three minutes of the game.
Braylon Mullins hit a three for the game’s first bucket and quickly hit his second attempt as well. He also banked one in near the end of the first half and hit a big one late to push their lead to seven with under a minute left as the hometown kid finished with 15.
Solo Ball added 13 points, including a fast break dunk to push the lead to eight with four minutes left. He and Mullins combined for seven threes in the best shooting effort from the duo all tournament.
The Huskies (34-5) took care of the basketball and hit some timely shots in the second half to hold off a feisty Fighting Illini squad. Alex Karaban struggled from the field, but hit all six of his free throws. Illinois only had three assists on 19 made field goals, compared to UConn’s 14 on 22.
Illinois (28-9) came into the day as champion of the South Region, knocking off Iowa last Saturday in the Elite Eight to get to its first Final Four since it went to the national title game in 2005. Brad Underwood had the Fighting Illini playing elite basketball and boasted the top offense in the country entering the day per KenPom.
Both sides would trade misses before Mullins opened the scoring. The Greenfield, IN, native had strong support playing right near his hometown with many friends and family in attendance.
Mullins stayed hot, drilling another triple from essentially the same spot to give the Huskies an 8-2 lead before the Illini rattled off the next five. Tarris Reed Jr. would respond, grabbing a tough offensive rebound and putting it back plus the foul to make it 10-7 going into the U-16.
Reed finished the three-point play and, after another stop, Silas Demary Jr. stuck back a miss from Reed to keep the momentum. Jayden Ross drilled a three before a two-hand slam from Reed triggered an Underwood timeout at the 13:20 mark with UConn up 18-9.
The Illinois stoppage worked, as the Huskies failed to score before the next media timeout and the lead was cut to 18-12. Keaton Wagler buried his first three of the game to trim the deficit to three, but Ross snapped UConn’s scoring skid with his second triple.
Tomislav Ivisic knocked down a three to put Illinois in front, 22-21, with under seven minutes to play in the half. After Underwood’s timeout, the Fighting Illini went on a 13-3 run that spanned over six minutes going into the U-8.
Reed ignited some energy with a nice finish inside, and Karaban picked up a steal that turned into a three-point play from Mullins to make it 26-22 Huskies.
Solo Ball got on the board after the U-4, drilling a top of the key three to make it 31-24 before Karaban splashed a triple from the corner on the next trip to push the lead to double digits for the first time.
Ivisic hit his second three of the half, but Mullins answered with a deep three off the glass. After all of the first-half shooting woes on Sunday against Duke, the Huskies connected on seven first-half threes to take a 37-29 lead into the locker room. UConn didn’t turn the ball over once in the first half, taking care of the basketball.
Both sides traded pairs of free throws to start the second half before Demary drilled a three to give the Huskies their largest lead at the time at 42-31. Ball would keep the lead in double figures, hitting a transition three after Demary set him up off a steal. By the U-16, UConn had a 47-36 lead.
Ball got a very friendly roll from the top of the key a few trips later to make it 52-40 with 12 minutes to play.
Jaylin Stewart entered the scoring column shortly after by drilling a three on his third attempt of the game. Hurley got some valuable minutes from the bench, playing four reserves on the floor with Ball and still maintaining a double-digit lead.
Illinois showed some signs of life, cutting it down to eight with eight to go at 57-49. Hurley subbed back in his starters, but the Illini didn’t back down. Hurley called a timeout with Illinois in the midst of an 8-0 and UConn scoreless for nearly four minutes, seeing its lead dwindle to six at 57-51.
The Huskies still couldn’t convert, then an Andrej Stojakovic layup made it a four-point game with 5:01 to play as Underwood called a timeout. The second double-digit run of the game had the Illini right back in it, but Reed silenced it with his first points of the half.
After an Illinois miscue, Karaban found Ball for a breakaway one-handed slam to get it back to a three-possession game.
Ben Humrichous hit a three right before the U-4 to make things 61-56 Huskies entering the final segment. After the break, Reed hit both ends of a big 1-and-1 to get the lead back to seven. Mirkovic would split a pair, then after a defensive stop, Wagler finished to get it back to four with 1:37 to go.
Karaban missed an open three on the next possession, but a key offensive rebound from Demary reset the shot clock and set up a big-time triple from Mullins to make it 66-59.
As Illinois did all half, they answered quickly. Wagler buried a three, and Underwood called his final timeout with 43.5 seconds to play and the score 66-62.
The Huskies were just able to avoid a 10-second call, getting the ball to Demary for some free throws. He hit both, and after a miss on the other end, Reed iced it at the line to secure the 71-62 win.
Next up, the Huskies are set to face the winner of the second game on Saturday between No. 1 seeds Michigan and Arizona on Monday night in the National Championship game. Tip-off is set for 8:50 p.m. from Lucas Oil Stadium and will be televised on CBS. UConn looks to improve to a perfect 7-0 in title games in program history.
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