WASHINGTON— The East Regional Final came exactly as promised: A battle of superb talent and elite coaching down to the final buzzer.
Despite holding a substantial lead through most of the game, the Blue Devils bowed out of the NCAA Tournament in the Elite Eight to a UConn buzzer-beater. The Boozer brothers’ combined 42 points weren’t enough in the 73-72 loss that stunned the Capital One Arena crowd. Dan Hurley and the Huskies have earned their third trip to the Final Four in four years.
“I could not be more disappointed and feeling for our guys, at the same time of just trying to process what happened. I don't have the words," head coach Jon Scheyer said. "I'm incredibly sorry for these guys that they've got to go through this. This is on us. We're going to be in this together."
Early on, it seemed that UConn wouldn’t get anywhere with an icy 3-point attack. With seven minutes remaining in the game — and perhaps his team’s season, too — Silas Demary Jr. sought to change that. The guard drilled treys on consecutive possessions from each corner, the Huskies’ second and third 3-pointers of the evening. Amped up, the team from Storrs, Conn., whittled the lead all the way down to 67-64, the closest the score had stood since 9-6. A Solo Ball and-one triggered a media timeout — sending UConn players running onto the court and Hurley into hysterics.
Big-time players show up in big-time moments, and both Cameron Boozer and Alex Karaban rose to the challenge. Following a Duke timeout, Karaban calmly stepped into his sixth 3-point attempt of the contest, this time finding the bottom of the net at last. Only one point now stood between the teams. The National Player of the Year favorite Boozer swung back, dislodging defenders for a shot at the cup. 72-69, Duke.
But who can ever predict what happens in March.
Demary split a trip to the line to bring the score to 72-70 with 10 seconds remaining. On the ensuing inbound, the Huskies denied every Blue Devil attempt to get open. Cayden Boozer finally ended up with the ball, but his next pass was deflected by Demary at midcourt. Mullins secured the loose ball and swung it to Karaban. The forward fired it right back to Mullins, who, like Karaban moments before, hadn’t recorded a 3-pointer all night. The freshman, collected, rose up from way beyond the arc and broke the hearts of Duke fans everywhere as his triple was pure.
"It's easy to look at that play — I look at every play that happened, especially in that second half. This is not about one play," Scheyer said. "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."
There’s the old adage “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” and the Huskies took it to heart Sunday. UConn had brutalized Michigan State with its size and physicality in the Sweet 16, and the No. 2 seed tried the same against Duke. On the contest’s opening possession, 6-foot-11 Tarris Reed Jr. received the ball in the post, jostling Maliq Brown out of position to draw a quick shooting foul. The former Michigan Wolverine was an early matchup nightmare for the Blue Devils with his mix of length and touch around the rim — scoring 10 of his team’s first 16 points.
But Duke met force with force. While Reed gave defenders fits, Cameron Boozer was as good of a response as any. After receiving an entry pass with no defender between him and the basket, Boozer went up for the layup only to be denied by Karaban. The superstar freshman didn’t give up on the play, however, saving the ball on the baseline and finding Dame Sarr in the left corner. Sarr launched a triple without hesitation, his shot rattling around the rim before finally falling.
The very next possession, Boozer again secured the ball in the paint — this time giving Karaban no chance to make a play. Although the Miami native wasn’t impervious to the Huskies’ claws, he manipulated the opposing defense effectively. Following the under-16 media timeout, the Boozer twins came alive from deep, with each brother drilling a trey on the left wing.
A Demary two-pointer had brought UConn within five at 26-21, spurring Dan Hurley to pump up the Huskies’ faithful behind the bench. As a roar filled Capital One Arena, the Blue Devils maintained their composure. Cayden Boozer’s quick hands forced a turnover at midcourt, jumpstarting a transition opportunity that Nikolas Khamenia easily converted. And instead a run for UConn — as Hurley might’ve hoped — a Duke tsunami ensued.
All game long, Cameron Boozer acted as a magnet to defenders whenever he stepped inside the arc. When a pair of Huskies swarmed the forward in the post, Boozer flung a cross-court dime to a wide-open Sarr in the right corner. Sarr sank his second triple of the contest, and as he skipped back on defense, it was his turn to electrify the crowd. Seconds later, Boozer’s emphatic denial of Reed was the sequence’s exclamation point — sending the sea of royal blue into a frenzy. Five Cameron Boozer free throws extended the lead to 40-21 and finished a 14-0 run.
Hurley’s squad had no immediate answer for the Blue Devils’ dialed-up intensity. As the No. 1 seed matched the Huskies’ painted-area prowess, their efficiency cratered. Reed’s 5-for-7 start became 5-for-10 when the halftime buzzer sounded, and the team finished the opening period with a 1-for-11 mark from deep. Bruising offense could only guarantee UConn so many buckets: It needed to diversify its scoring approach. It needed more from its stars.
Mullins, while just a freshman in a veteran-heavy group, became the first Husky to snap out of his first-half slumber. After scoring two points across the first 20 minutes, Mullins knocked down near-identical midrange jumpers on back-to-back possessions — drawing an and-one opportunity on the second. UConn had drawn within 12, but it had a long way to go.
Cameron Boozer and Reed exchanged slams as the Elite Eight contest transformed into a slugfest. And finally, the sleeping giant of Karaban awoke. A savvy pass from Reed down low found the First Team All-Big East forward right at the rim, where he elevated to drop in his first points of the contest. The emergence of the Huskies’ second-leading scorer injected new life into the underdogs — energy that spiked with yet another Reed dunk to cut the deficit to seven.
"Honestly, this whole year has been a huge blessing," Cameron Boozer said, one eye swollen from a hit he had taken during the game, both eyes red and puffy. "I mean, I came here, and I learned so much from our players — not just from the coaches, our whole players. We're just such a connected group. I love those guys... I'm just proud of them, proud of our team."
Scheyer and the Blue Devils will have to retool with a top recruiting class as several of Duke’s 2025-26 stars prepare for potential exits to the NBA draft.