Braylon Mullins’ Game-Winner Shocks Duke
Braylon Mullins’ last-second three-pointer created quite a stir in Capitol One Arena.
Commentators Bill Raftery and Grant Hill appeared to be among the most astonished.
After Duke’s Caden Boozer mishandled the ball with just five seconds remaining, Mullins nailed a long-range shot, giving the Huskies a 73-72 lead that they maintained.
Raftery could hardly believe it, sitting in awe as play-by-play announcer Ian Eagle shouted in excitement over Mullins’ shot.
Hill, a Duke alum from 1990 to 1994, reacted by holding onto Eagle with one arm and covering his mouth with the other.
When Raftery managed to regain composure, he uttered two simple words.
“It’s just not possible,” he commented.
Eagle added, “March means drama.”
“Deflection, reaction, and big onions. They all consume nylon from deep. It’s amazing,” Roughtree chimed in with his well-known catchphrase.
Hill then snapped back to reality.
“Wow, what a play,” he remarked. “All Duke had to do was hold onto the ball there. They didn’t need to pass it.”
Hill made a valid point—had Boozer retained possession, the game might have ended differently for Duke. Instead, an attempted pass to a teammate was thwarted, and Mullins intercepted it.
Nevertheless, the Blue Devils’ loss can be attributed to other errors made in the second half as well.
Though Duke had a strong start, leading by 15 points at halftime and even stretching their advantage to 19 during the game, UW rallied to claim the win and secure a spot in the Final Four.
Duke’s head coach, John Scheyer, along with Boozer, pointed to multiple turnovers (eight of which occurred in the second half) as a key reason for the defeat.
The Blue Devils finished their season with a 35-3 record, but remarkably lost by just a combined total of five points in those three games.
They fell to Texas Tech by a single point, lost to North Carolina State after Seth Trimble’s buzzer-beater, and now suffered this last-second defeat to UW.
With this defeat, Scheyer’s tenure as Duke’s head coach now stands at 124-25.
Even though this season boasted the best winning percentage (.921) during his four years at the helm, his teams have exited prior to the national championship game each time.
The loss to UConn, however, may have been the most unexpected of all, as evidenced by the shocked faces of Raftery and Hill.
