Reed Jr.'s Herculean effort carries UConn to tight victory over Furman
In the history of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament, 15 seeds are 11-152 against 2 seeds. Coming off a dynamite run in the SoCon tournament to make this year’s field of 68, freshman Alex Wilkins and Furman hoped to become number 12. All that stood in between them and that fate were the mighty 2-seed UConn Huskies, albeit without Silas Demary Jr. and Jaylin Stewart. That and a 10:30 p.m. ET tip for two east coast schools playing in Philly, PA.
Scoring 11 of the Paladins’ first 13 points, Wilkins gave Connecticut a run for their money. He was out of his mind, carrying his squad to a lead 10 minutes in. UConn wasn’t playing bad basketball per se–Wilkins was just dominating. In the end though it wasn’t enough, with the Huskies winning 82-71.
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“We knew it was going to be a hard-fought game,” Coach Dan Hurley said. “We’re missing a starting point guard who would have been, I think, a much better match-up for Wilkins because Silas has size and is a ball hawk and could have made it tougher on him.”
A personal 8-0 run from Tarris Reed Jr. midway through the opening frame steadied the ship for the Huskies, building on a monster start to his night.
Reed had a 19 point, 16 board double-double before halftime and finished with 31 points and 27 rebounds on 80% shooting. He’s the first player with such a statline in March Madness in over 60 years. He wasn’t just dominant, he was historic, which was much of what kept Connecticut afloat Friday night. There’s an argument to be made that without Reed, the Huskies are on a bus back to Storrs empty handed.
“My mindset coming into the game is really just to be dominant,” Reed noted. “This is my last March Madness. My days are numbered in college basketball. Just giving all I got and having fun with the guys around me. We have a special team and special coaching staff. Really just have fun and enjoy the process and enjoy the journey.”
Even as Wilkins cooled off, the scoreboard stayed close through the end of the first half. A pair of Tom House’s triples helped Furman get within a possession, and Charles Johnston beat the buzzer to keep the hole to four points.
The anti-UConn, pro-Furman crowd was loving every second of the upset that appeared to be brewing, with the Paladins staying just within striking distance. Even though the game was geographically closer to Storrs, Conn. than Greenville, SC, the crowd made it feel like a Furman home game.
Karaban finally got himself rolling with seven quick second half points, pushing the Huskies up double-digits. They managed to hold that advantage for the next few minutes, as Karaban again added to his total.
The senior didn’t have the best start to his day, though was a key part in the Huskies turning things around. He scored 22 points ultimately and hit some important shots down the stretch. Like Reed, Karaban’s “days are numbered,” with his next loss signifying the end of his collegiate career.
“I’m always going to trust my teammates, but it’s my job being the veteran guy on this team, having the most experience in college basketball,” Karaban said of needing to step up late. “I can’t go out like that personally and make sure I step up when my team needs me. That’s something I wanted to do in this game. That’s something I want to do the entire tournament, but I have so much trust and confidence in my teammates, too, knowing how we’re going to respond and how Tarris is going to keep playing like this too.”
The UConn lead teetered around 10 points, with the Paladins constantly threatening to come back. A Wilkins three cut it to five, but a Braylon Mullins steal to Reed slam quieted the crowd. Reed got three offensive boards on a possession with two minutes left, opening up a key Karaban three. That bucket sealed the game, with the Huskies winning by 11.
It was by no means a beautiful game, or even a good one, but in March a win is a win. It would have been devastating for this team to go out to a No. 15 seed, but there’s also a wide belief that Furman was an especially talented 15.
As for Hurley, he has nightmares about other moments his Huskies were sent packing prematurely, especially 2022.
“I had a flashback to New Mexico State where I was like oh, this is a really good team,” he mentioned. “I was having a little bit of a Buffalo flashback to ’22, which – just because they were so tall. You don’t play many 15 seeds or mid-majors that legitimately go 6’10” or 6’11” at the four and five and both guys are skilled. When I saw them at the open practice yesterday, I was stunned how tall Wilkins was, how tall House was, and how tall Thomas was, their wing. Just a really tall team.”
Part of what hurt the Huskies was cold shooting, especially from freshman sniper Mullins. While the team finished 20% from long range, Mullins went 0/8. Even without his stroke, he still pieced together a 12-point, six assist performance that included a pair of important steals late.
“I felt like five or six of them were very open,” he said. “They were trapping Tarris and leaving me. I think it’s just a mental block of trying to figure out how to make those shots. The coaches aren’t going to tell me not to shoot, but you need to find the flow of the game and adjust to the ball you’re shooting with, the environment you’re playing in and stay confident.”
Solo Ball also had a rough day, going 3/12 from the field and 1/6 from beyond the arc. His season has been marred by tough shooting and Friday was more of the same. The Huskies need him to shoot at a better clip if they want to make a run these next few weeks.
Though the shooting did end up evening out for the squads a bit more (38% vs 20%), at halftime UConn was getting outshot from three 50% to 7%. Talk about a huge difference.
With Demary out, backup PG Malachi Smith did a solid job stepping in, notching four points and seven assists. He had trouble stopping Wilkins, but Wilkins is a lot to handle for anyone. Smith’s resilience is all the more impressive considering he had a scare at practice where he hurt his knee. Fortunately he was fine, but the Huskies could have been down to their third string point guard if Smith was out too.
“We thought he hurt his knee in a catastrophe on Wednesday at the end of practice,” Hurley said. “So he was banged up out there playing 31 minutes. The guy’s a warrior and showed that New York toughness today. I’m proud of Mali. He’s a good egg.”
The Huskies look to advance to the Sweet 16 against Donovan Dent and 7-seed UCLA this Sunday at 8:45 p.m.. Another later start for the Huskies along the Stairway to Seven…
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