From The Sports Desk: Inside a March Miracle

From The Sports Desk: Inside a March Miracle How UConn made its epic comeback to reach the Final Four. Listen to this article with a free account 00:00 00:00 Braylon Mullins of the UConn Huskies celebrates after shooting the game-winning three point basket during the second half of a game against the Duke Blue Devils on March 29. Emilee Chinn / Getty Images Share Add NBC News to Google March 30, 2026, 3:00 PM EDT By Tim Rohan The Final Four is now set — Arizona, Michigan, Illinois and … UConn? For 55 minutes yesterday, it looked as if the Duke Blue Devils, the top overall seed, would cruise to an easy win over UConn to make the Final Four. Then came one of the greatest comebacks in recent college basketball history. In today’s newsletter, we’ll break it all down for you. For more March Madness coverage, as always, come visit us at NBC News. A March Miracle In the final game of the Elite Eight, Duke seemed on its way to a blowout win over UConn, another ho-hum game in a tournament full of them. At one point, the Blue Devils were leading by 19 points. At halftime, they were up by 15. With about five minutes remaining, they still had a 9-point lead. But the Huskies kept chipping away until they had pulled within 2 points with 10 seconds left. As Duke inbounded the ball, UConn had a full-court press on. The ball eventually found its way to Cayden Boozer , Duke’s freshman guard, who tried to lob a pass to an open teammate, only to have a UConn defender deflect it for a steal. The clock was ticking as UConn’s Alex Karaban passed the ball to Braylon Mullins , another freshman, who hadn’t made a 3-pointer all game. Mullins launched a shot from 35 feet and … swish. UConn had taken the lead, with less than a second remaining. “Just happy to see that go in,” Mullins said moments later, in a postgame interview. “Man, I’m so happy.” As far as March Miracles go, UConn is not an underdog by any means. The Huskies won back-to-back national titles in 2023 and 2024. But perhaps that ...