NEW YORK — UConn basketball in March can be best described by a four-word credo that head coach Dan Hurley instilled:
“Foot stays on gas.”
With a spot in the Big East tournament championship game at stake, the Huskies could ill afford to get off the accelerator, especially against an upset-minded Georgetown team looking to continue an historic run through the field at Madison Square Garden. In the end, UConn drove through its opposition and avoided both the potholes in the road and the brakes.
Behind 21 points from Braylon Mullins and a vintage defensive effort, UConn led Georgetown from start to finish, defeating the Hoyas in the second of two semifinal matchups Friday, 67-51, pitting the Huskies against regular season champion St. John’s with a conference tournament crown hanging in the balance.
“I thought we guarded at a real high level,” Hurley said of his team’s effort. “We did the job on the backboard, took care of the ball for the most part, and survived a not great shooting night because these guys were so tenacious defensively. And obviously, Braylon had a great shotmaking night.”
Mullins’ 21 points marked the first 20-point game by a Husky freshman in the Big East tournament since Jerome Dyson accomplished the feat in 2007 against Syracuse. UConn was balanced offensively alongside him, with Silas Demary, Jr. finishing one rebound shy of a double-double with 10 points and nine boards, while Tarris Reed, Jr. stuffed the stat sheet with six points, seven rebounds, eight assists and three blocked shots. However, the biggest takeaway of the night was what the Huskies did on the defensive end, a fact Ed Cooley attested to after the game.
“They had just a little bit of extra juice in their step,” the Georgetown coach conceded. “They were swarming all over the place, they got a lot of second shots. Every mistake they made, we capitalized.”
The Hoyas end their season with a 16-18 record, a mark that is deceiving in the sense that Cooley’s team was on the short end of a majority of close contests during the season, unable to get the proper bounces more often than not.
“When you look at our body of work, we were right there,” Georgetown guard Jeremiah Williams said. “In our 20 Big East games, probably 16 of them came right down to the last minute, minute-and-a-half. So we’ve gotta get better at that.”
Inside the other locker room, the emotions from the UConn perspective were those of jubilation. Satisfaction for having reached the doorstep of another championship, but also a renewed focus on executing one more time against a bitter rival to cut down the nets at Madison Square Garden for a second time in three seasons.
“This is why you choose to come to UConn,” Reed proclaimed. “You want to be in these big-time games and win championships. Looking back on my college career, I haven’t won any type of championship yet. So tomorrow night’s going to be a great opportunity to get my first one.”
“You knew there was going to be a third round,” Hurley said, hinting at the highly anticipated rubber match with St. John’s. “And here we are.”