Michigan advanced to Final Four final with 91-73 win over Arizona at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.
Michigan advanced to men’s NCAA final with 91-73 win over Arizona at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.
Indianapolis — Braylon Mullins thinks that most of his family members will be cheering for him in the national championship Monday night. But he doesn’t know for certain.
Mullins, who grew up in a household that revered Michigan football and basketball, is the freshman phenom who has delivered shot after shot for UConn (34-5) en route to the national championship game. But it’s there that his Indiana household may be divided. He and the Huskies will face Michigan (36-3) for the NCAA championship Monday at Lucas Oil Stadium.
“Knowing that I have people around me that are probably gonna be rooting for Michigan, it means a little more in this game,” Mullins said Sunday, wearing a smile at a podium alongside teammate Solo Ball. “It’s gonna be fun, but at the end of the day it is another game, and we just gotta prepare the right way.”
It was Mullins who carved his name into March legend with his buzzer-beating 3 pulled from the logo that upset Duke in the Elite Eight. That brought Mullins, the 2025 Indiana Mr. Basketball, to the Final Four in Indianapolis just a half hour west of his hometown of Greenfield.
There’s some March history in the family. Mullins’ father, Josh, played at IUPUI and helped that team to the NCAA Tournament in 2003. He wore No. 24 for Fab Five member Jimmy King, and now his son is wearing that number against King’s old Wolverines with a championship on the line.
Funny enough, Mullins nearly played for Michigan, taking an official visit to Ann Arbor. His dad developed a close relationship with UM coach Dusty May, whose own basketball journey started at Eastern Green High School an hour south of Indy. But Mullins decided on Dan Hurley’s UConn, with Michigan his second choice.
“I loved everything about it, too,” Mullins said. “It’s just, I think UConn was just the better thing. I wanted the harder path to challenge, and I knew Coach Hurley was gonna push me to that.”
So far the 6-foot-6 guard Mullins is averaging 12.0 points per game and hit four 3s in the Final Four against Illinois. Elder teammates say he’s wise beyond his years. He brings a selfless energy, said UConn captain Alex Karaban — a two-time national champion in 2023 and 2024 — in the same lineage as stars Liam McKneely and Stephon Castle. Karaban called Mullins one of the most unique players he has been around, high praise from a guy who’s 18-1 and counting in four March Madness runs.
“He fit in perfectly, just who he is, just as a basketball kid,” Karaban said. “Like he’s overly obsessed with basketball. He’s constantly thinking about it. He wants to work hard. And I think his maturity as a freshman, too, stands out. Just not being shy of any moment and not being down on any bad performance he’s had.”
Like a spell in the second half against Illinois when Mullins missed five straight shots. He wound up hitting a dagger 3-pointer with 52 seconds on the clock to put away Illinois, sealing the win and a trip to Monday’s title game in his hometown. Delivering in moments like that is what makes Mullins not your typical freshman, and UConn — in its third Final Four in four years — not your typical team.
“The year hasn’t been a joyride. We haven’t been a machine of destruction,” Hurley said Saturday. “We’ve been a team that has had to grind out games like this. We’re comfortable in a possession game like that.”
It’s easy to find comfort with a guy like Mullins, whose importance is only accented by some teammates in discomfort. Point guard Silas Demary Jr. has been playing through injury this entire NCAA Tournament run, and now shooting guard Ball is walking around with a sprained foot.
There’ll only be more pressure on Mullins to deliver. None of that overwhelms him, he says.
“I think just being in the moment, and just not thinking of overthinking anything,” Mullins said was his key. “And just not thinking about all the outside noise, the distractions.”
It will be at a fever pitch playing for the national championship, no less against a school his family grew up watching, and one he nearly went to. Will his family members be pulling for Michigan more than him?
“I hope not,” Mullins said with a little chuckle. “I’ll never know though.”
@ConnorEaregood
On a roll
According to AP research, Michigan is the eighth team to win five games by double digits before the final of the NCAA Tournament. All won the championship except for North Carolina in 2016 (lost to Villanova).
▶ UConn 2024
▶ UConn 2023
▶ Villanova 2018
▶ North Carolina 2016
▶ North Carolina 2009
▶ Duke 2001
▶Michigan State 2000
NCAA Tournament
NO. 1 MICHIGAN VS. NO. 2 UCONN
▶ What: NCAA Tournament championship game
▶ When: Monday, 8:50 p.m.
▶ Where: Lucas Oil Stadium, Indianapolis
▶ TV: TBS/TNT/TruTV
▶ Records: Michigan 36-3, UConn 34-5
▶ Line: Michigan by 6.5
