Thirty-six years ago, a 19-year-old kid named Christian Laettner received an inbound pass at the far end of the court in East Rutherford, New Jersey, took one dribble, turned, and swished a shot through the net in overtime to eliminate UConn from the Elite Eight and send Duke to the Final Four. The slightly less famous of Laettner's two March buzzer-beaters, it was still a dagger. Dan Hurley was in the stands that night. His brother Bobby was on the floor — wearing Duke blue, pushing the pace, part of the machine that broke Connecticut's heart. The Hurley family went home that night on the winning side of one of this rivalry's most painful moments.

On Sunday afternoon at Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C., Dan Hurley may have been standing on the other side of the court, but he was still on the winning side of it all.

UConn trailed Duke by 19 points and had made exactly one three-pointer in 18 attempts. The Blue Devils were the tournament's top overall seed with a 14-game winning streak, one of the most heralded freshmen in the last decade, and a stranglehold on this game that looked airtight. With 10 seconds left, they had the ball and a two-point lead.

Then a freshman named Braylon Mullins — who grew up in Greenfield, Indiana, 30 miles from Lucas Oil Stadium, where the Final Four will be played next week — stole Cayden Boozer's pass, swung it to Alex Karaban, got it right back near the logo, and fired from 35 feet.

UConn 73, Duke 72. A trip to the Final Four secured.

"Just happy to see that [expletive] go in," Mullins told CBS Sports on the floor immediately afterward, still riding whatever cocktail of adrenaline and disbelief comes with that kind of moment.

From Laettner to Mullins: The Rivalry That Refuses to End Quietly

Since 1991 — Duke's first national title — UConn and Duke have combined for 11 championships. No other school has more than four in that span. That alone tells you what kind of territory we're talking about here.

Hurley said before the game that they’re "the two best college basketball programs on the men's side in the last 30 years," and honestly, that’s one of those statements that sounds bold until you actually sit with it for a second. Go back to 1990, start stacking banners, and you keep coming back to these two. Different eras, different rosters, same outcome — they’re always somewhere near the end.

And there never seems to be a dull matchup when these two meet in the tournament.

Duke got the first punches in. The Laettner shot in 1990. Another tournament win in 1991. For a while, that was the story — Duke as the machine, UConn as the team trying to break through.

Then UConn did.

In 1999, they walked into the national title game as underdogs against a loaded Duke team and just took it. Khalid El-Amin running around yelling "We shocked the world!" really flipped the dynamic. Five years later, in 2004, UConn erased a late deficit in the Final Four and knocked Duke out again.

Coach K vs. Jim Calhoun turned into the standard. If you could beat the other one, you knew exactly where you stood.

Now it’s Jon Scheyer vs. Dan Hurley. Same stage, same weight, just a new generation carrying it.

And Hurley — who usually leans intense more than reflective — actually took a second to step back and talk about what all of this means to him:

My family has obviously got this special connection with Duke, with Bob and how much that has meant to our family, those moments, my brother's success and the amazing run he had there. Now being on the UConn side of it, kind of an archrival this time of year, some heartbreaking moments on both sides, to find myself... I would not have imagined I'd be on either side of this. Pretty cool to be in an Elite Eight game versus Duke here after having witnessed so much of it.

Thirty-six hours later, he wasn’t just part of that history anymore — he added to it in a way that’s going to get replayed every March for a long time.

Duke Was Right to Feel Comfortable

Duke came into Sunday 35-2, riding a 14-game winning streak, the No. 1 overall seed, and playing like a team that expected to be cutting down nets in a week. And early on, it looked like it.

Cameron Boozer was everything you could’ve asked for in that first half. Confident, in control, scoring from everywhere. He finished with 27 and 8, but it felt even bigger in the moment because every bucket looked easy. Cayden was right there with him — 15 points, 6 assists, steady as ever. You’re watching it thinking, yeah… this is what a title team looks like.

And it wasn’t just the stars. Duke had a clear plan and they were executing it well early. They controlled the glass. They pushed tempo when they had numbers. And most importantly, they kept getting downhill. The paint touches were devastating for UConn — the same identity they showed against St. John’s, and the same results early on.

That’s when it really started to feel like this thing might be over. Not officially, but you know that feeling when a game stops being tense and starts leaning one way? That’s where this was headed.

By the middle of the first half, it was 15. Then 19.

And UConn… couldn’t hit anything.

They went 1-of-18 from three in the half. Missed nine straight shots at one point. Demary was clearly limited on that ankle. Mullins had two points and hadn’t found a rhythm. Karaban — the guy you trust in these moments — couldn’t buy one, 0-for-6.

Everything that could go wrong for UConn, did.

Meanwhile, Duke just looked comfortable. Loose. In control of every possession.

44-29 at the break.

You could feel the building start to shift into that “what’s the Final Four matchup going to look like?” mode. That’s how one-sided it felt.

Teams leading by 15 or more at halftime in NCAA Tournament history were 134-0.

Not a typo. One hundred and thirty-four and zero.

Until Sunday.

Tarris Reed Jr. Said No

If you want to understand this comeback, you have to start with the right player. The buzzer-beater gets the headline, Mullins becomes the March hero, and all of that is earned. But none of it happens without what Tarris Reed Jr. did for 35 minutes.

Reed finished with 26 points on 10-of-16 shooting, nine rebounds, four blocks, three assists, and two steals. And even that line somehow undersells it. This wasn’t just production — it was presence. Every possession where UConn needed something steady, something physical, something that wouldn’t get sped up or rattled, it kept running through him.

This has been building, too. A 31-point, 27-rebound explosion against Furman. A 20-point double-double against Michigan State. Now this. He’s at 20.3 points and 15 boards a game this tournament, and it doesn’t feel fluky. It feels like a guy who finally realized exactly who he can be at this level.

Hurley’s been talking about that all year. "With Tarris, or any player, I think at some point you hope that the light switch comes on in time," he said before the game. "Maybe it's the life-or-death urgency to this time of year, which creates that focus and concentration and locking into the identity and motor, where it's now or never."

The light switch didn’t just come on — it stayed on.

What stood out most wasn’t just the scoring. It was how controlled everything felt. He wasn’t forcing shots. He wasn’t rushing. He was sealing deep, finishing through contact, making the simple read when help came. That’s the difference between a big night and a tone-setting one.

That dunk off the steal from Cayden Boozer with 13 minutes left — that wasn’t just two points. That was the first time it felt like UConn actually punched back. It cut the lead to 10, but more importantly, it changed the feel in the building. You could hear it. You could see it. Duke was still up, still in control, but it was clear they weren't going to be able to just coast to the end.

From there, it turned into a matchup inside. Reed vs. Cameron Boozer, trading finishes, trading momentum, neither one backing down.

Karaban, Demary, and the Art of Hanging Around

There wasn’t one big run where everything flipped. No 12-0 burst that suddenly erased the deficit. It was slower than that. More stubborn than that. Possession by possession, just chipping away.

Mullins was the first sign of life. Two midrange jumpers, an and-one, cutting it to 12. Nothing crazy, but enough to say, alright… they’re still here. Duke answered, because that’s what good teams do, and for a stretch it felt like UConn would get close-ish and Duke would just push it right back out.

That’s where most comebacks die.

This one didn’t. Because Alex Karaban finally showed up.

That first bucket at the rim off Reed’s pass was the kind of play that settles everything down. Then Reed dunks again. Now it’s seven. 

You could feel it flip in the arena. Duke could feel it too. The game started getting tighter, possessions a little more rushed.

That’s where experience shows up.

Karaban being 16-1 in March over four years isn’t just trivia. It shows in how he carries himself. Down big, missing shots, nothing going his way — and there’s no panic. No pressing. Just staying ready.

"My mindset is just to keep firing," he said after.

The Last 10 Seconds

Duke had the ball, a two-point lead, and needed to do one simple thing: not turn it over. That’s it. Get the ball in, take the foul, hit free throws, and you’re heading to the Final Four.

Instead, everything sped up.

Cayden Boozer caught the inbound near halfcourt as UConn swarmed every option. You could see it in real time — not panic exactly, but discomfort. The spacing got tight, there weren't any angles, and instead of simplifying the possession, Duke tried to make one more play. Boozer went to move it, Demary got a hand on it, and suddenly the ball is loose in the frontcourt.

Mullins tracked it down, and even then, nothing about the situation screamed “this is about to end the game.” If anything, it felt rushed. Disorganized at best.

And that’s what makes what happened next so perfect.

Mullins said afterward that his first instinct was to get it to someone who had actually made a three:

I looked up at the clock, and it said 5 seconds, so I tried to get the ball to somebody who had made one in the game.

That was Karaban. He caught it and, without overthinking it, sent it right back.

Now it’s Mullins again, near the logo, with just enough time to get a shot off.

There’s something about those moments where thinking actually hurts you. The guys who hesitate usually don’t get it off clean. Mullins didn’t hesitate. He caught, gathered, and let it fly from 35 feet like it was the only option that made sense.

Pure.

Before the net even snapped, UConn’s bench was already spilling onto the floor. That’s how clean it was.

Officials went to the monitor, reset it to 0.4, and Duke got one last heave that never really had a chance. And just like that, a game they led for nearly 39 minutes had slipped through their fingertips.

That was UConn’s first lead since 2-0.

They Survived. Now They’re the Problem.

UConn is heading to the Final Four, and it's about how they got there anymore — it’s about what they look like going forward.

Because what they showed against Duke travels.

They proved they can survive when nothing is working. The shots weren’t falling, the offense looked stuck for stretches, and they've shown no lead is safe. That’s not something you can easily scheme against — that’s identity.

Now they get Illinois.

That’s a real matchup. Physical, balanced, not a team that’s going to get rattled. They can score, they can defend, and they’re not going to give anything away.

But if UConn gets this version of Tarris Reed again, it changes everything. He forces you to respect the paint first, and if the perimeter guys just have a normal shooting night, now you’re dealing with a much more complete offense.

And then there’s the experience. Karaban, Hurley, this core — they’ve been here before. You could see it in how they handled being down 19. No panic, no rushing, just waiting for the game to give them something.

This wasn’t just a comeback. It was proof of what they can be.

And heading into the Final Four, that’s what makes them dangerous.

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