Less than a year ago, Braylon Mullins was scoring 38 points in a double-overtime loss in the IHSAA tournament for Greenfield-Central High School. On Sunday, the UConn freshman hit a 35-foot buzzer-beater to complete a 19-point comeback against No. 1 overall seed Duke and send the Huskies to the Final Four.
That Final Four is in Indianapolis. Lucas Oil Stadium is 25 miles from the gym where he played high school basketball.
"The Indiana kid sent us to Indianapolis," UConn senior Alex Karaban said after the game.
From Greenfield-Central to the Biggest Stage in College Basketball
Mullins grew up in Greenfield, about 25 miles east of downtown Indianapolis in Hancock County. He played all four years at Greenfield-Central High School, where he became the school's all-time leading scorer with 2,158 points.
As a senior, he led Greenfield-Central to a 23-4 record while averaging 32.9 points, 7.2 rebounds, 4.2 assists, and 3.7 steals per game, shooting over 47% from three-point range. He was named a 2025 McDonald's All-American, the Gatorade Indiana Boys Basketball Player of the Year, and Indiana's Mr. Basketball, joining a list that includes Kyle Guy, Gary Harris, Eric Gordon, Greg Oden, and the Zeller brothers. He was a five-star recruit and a consensus top-25 national prospect.
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He chose UConn over Indiana and North Carolina.
"We told Braylon Mullins when we recruited him that we were gonna bring him back to Indy for the Final Four," head coach Dan Hurley said Sunday. "And now Braylon Mullins is going back to Indy for the Final Four."
The Shot That Changed the Tournament
Mullins' freshman season at UConn was not smooth. He missed seven games due to injuries and a concussion before entering the starting lineup in early December. On the season he averaged 12.0 points, 3.5 rebounds, and 1.7 assists while shooting 34.5% from three.