UConn stuns Duke on last-second 3 to cap wild comeback, end Duke’s season :: WRAL.com

WASHINGTON, D.C. — On the verge of a second straight Final Four with an entirely new starting five and this year’s freshman phenom, Duke squandered a 19-point lead, undone by untimely turnovers and an all-time long distance 3-pointer.

Second-seeded UConn, improbably not Duke, is headed to the Final Four after Bryson Mullins’ 3-pointer from about 35 feet gave the second-seeded Huskies a stunning 73-72 victory in the East Regional Final.

“I don’t have the words,” Duke coach Jon Scheyer said after the game. ”I don’t have the words.”

The entire Duke team was in shock. No one spoke above a whisper in the locker room. Wet eyes, stunned faces and disbelief.

“I’m hurting right now,” said star Cameron Boozer, who was sporting a black right eye. “We’re all hurting.”

Duke took the lead at 4-2 with 94 seconds into the game and didn’t relinquish it until Mullins’ 3-pointer from first “S” in March Madness went through with 0.4 seconds remaining in the second half – a play set up by Duke’s eighth second-half turnover.

UConn, which trailed by 15 at the half, had slowly chipped away at the Duke edge throughout the second half and cut it to 70-69 on a 3-pointer by Alex Karaban with 50 seconds remaining. Boozer, Duke’s answer all season, delivered again with a bucket in the paint to extend the lead to 72-69.

Up three, Boozer fouled UConn’s Silas Demary Jr., from Raleigh, with 10 seconds left. Demary missed the first and then made the second. Duke inbounded the ball, trying to run out the clock. Cayden Boozer’s pass ahead attempt, however, was deflected, and Mullins chased down the loose ball. He passed to Karaban, who tossed it back to Mullins – and the freshman pulled up.

“I let our team down,” Cayden Boozer said.

Said Scheyer: “This is not about one play. It’s about every play that put us in that position – and that’s what you don’t want to do, where one play something could happen.”

Duke (35-3) doesn’t lose often under Scheyer, but the last four losses — including two in the NCAA Tournament — have followed the same pattern. Duke, seemingly, in control, only to lose in heartbreaking fashion. 

There was the Final Four loss to Houston last year in which a loaded Duke team led by as many as 14, including nine with less than three minutes left. Duke led Texas Tech by 17 earlier this season and lost by 1. In February, the Blue Devils led rival North Carolina by 13 in the second half only to lose when Seth Trimble buried a 3-pointer with 0.4 seconds left — same as Sunday night.

Scheyer’s won three ACC titles in four seasons and led the Blue Devils to three consecutive Elite Eights, but his spectacular resume is marred by those late losses.

“There’s not a person in this room, including me, that doesn’t replay everything that you could do and how you can help,” Scheyer said of Sunday’s loss. “I mean, obviously. That’s part of being in this seat. That’s part of being in this spot.”

Duke is in this spot, deep in the NCAA Tournament, because of Scheyer’s masterful roster construction, built around talented freshmen. Cameron Boozer led the Blue Devils with 27 points, eight rebounds and two blocks. Cayden Boozer had 15 points, five rebounds and six assists.

But the twins had seven of Duke’s 12 turnovers between them. Cayden’s pass will be the most remembered, but Cameron’s live ball turnover with 1:05 left led to Karaban’s 3-pointer.

The Boozers, ultimate winners throughout their basketball career including this year’s ACC regular-season and tournament titles, coming up short.

“We just gave them easy baskets,” Scheyer said. “We just had to secure the ball better, and that’s a recipe to put yourself in that position.”

Karaban and Mullins combined to shoot 2-of-12 from 3-point range, but each made their final crucial attempt. UConn made one of its first 18 shots from 3, but made four of its final five to cap the comeback.

“I’m just happy that was the one that went down tonight,” said Mullins, who, too, said he was at a loss for words.

The Duke locker room was eerily quiet. The pizzas and chicken tenders, fruit and snacks went untouched. 

A Blue Devil season that seemed destined to end in Indianapolis, in another Final Four, with a shot at redemption, was over. So sudden. So unexpected. In a highly anticipated matchup between two programs that have won a combined 11 national titles since 1991, it is UConn that gets to go on.

And Duke that is left to wonder what happened.

“I’m incredibly sorry,” Scheyer said, “for these guys that they’ve got to go through this.”