{"id":243179,"date":"2026-03-30T09:30:32","date_gmt":"2026-03-30T09:30:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/243179\/"},"modified":"2026-03-30T09:30:32","modified_gmt":"2026-03-30T09:30:32","slug":"connecticut-stuns-top-seeded-duke-to-finalize-final-four-matchups","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/243179\/","title":{"rendered":"Connecticut stuns top-seeded Duke to finalize Final Four matchups"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Braylon Mullins sank a desperation three-pointer with 0.4 seconds left to give Connecticut an astonishing 73-72 victory over top-seeded Duke on Sunday, earning the Huskies a spot in the Final Four after they rallied from a 19-point first-half deficit.<\/p>\n<p>The Blue Devils led by three before UConn\u2019s Silas Demary Jr. made one of two free throws with 10 seconds left. With Duke playing keep-away to prevent the Huskies from fouling, Cayden Boozer\u2019s pass near midcourt was deflected, and after UConn came up with the ball, Demary made a shot from well behind the three-point line.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s the second straight season to end in a huge collapse for Duke, which was the top overall seed in this year\u2019s tournament. The Blue Devils led by six with 1:14 remaining before falling to Houston in last year\u2019s national semifinals.<\/p>\n<p>UConn missed 18 of its first 19 attempts from three-point range and finished five for 23. The fifth will be remembered in Connecticut for generations.<\/p>\n<p>llinois will face UConn and Michigan will take on Arizona next Saturday, with the winners squaring off two nights later for the national title.<\/p>\n<p>The Arizona-Michigan game is a matchup of top seeds. UConn is seeded second and will play No. 3 seed Illinois.<\/p>\n<p>           <img id=\"yt-img-a0P4WeUURks\" class=\"absolute\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/1774863032_919_hqdefault.jpg\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\"\/>                 <\/p>\n<p>Arizona is the early favorite to take the title next Monday night in Indianapolis, listed at 19-10 odds by BetMGM Sportsbook, followed closely by the Wolverines \u2014 coming off a 95-62 drubbing of Tennessee on Sunday \u2014 at 2-1.<\/p>\n<p>Michigan is a 1\u00bd-point favorite in its semifinal.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Braylon Mullins sank a desperation three-pointer with 0.4 seconds left to give Connecticut an astonishing 73-72 victory over&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":243180,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[42840,109061,557,23324,4794,39730,48,52,51,47,50,49,11860,795,109060,772,9018,776,109059,76450,72],"class_list":["post-243179","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-blue-devils","tag-cayden-boozer","tag-connecticut","tag-duke","tag-final","tag-huskies","tag-la","tag-la-headlines","tag-la-news","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-headlines","tag-los-angeles-news","tag-matchup","tag-michigan","tag-national-semifinal","tag-pass","tag-second","tag-sunday","tag-top-overall-seed","tag-uconn","tag-year"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243179","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=243179"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243179\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/243180"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=243179"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=243179"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=243179"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}