Braylon Mullins scored a game-high 23 points and Silas Demary Jr. netted 17 of his 21 points in the first half to lead No. 4 UConn to an 85-77 win over No. 16 Michigan in a rematch of last season’s national title game on Friday in Boston.
Demary added seven rebounds and four assists as UConn (2-0) nearly posted a wire-to-wire win, with Michigan’s only lead coming at 2-0.
Mullins had 14 in the second half, including 10 at the foul line.
Freshman Colben Landrew had 14 points and a team-high eight rebounds for the Huskies, who were 41.8% from the floor and cruised despite going the final 5:38 without a field goal.
Following a scoreless first half, Trey McKenney scored 22 to lead Michigan (1-1), sinking four 3-pointers. J.P. Estrella (19 points, nine rebounds) and Roddy Gayle Jr. (18 points) were also double-figure scorers.
After playing much of the first half inside a two-possession window, a 9-0 run to end the first half gave the Huskies a 43-30 lead.
Landrew scored seven of UConn’s nine points during the closing spurt, including a transition 3-pointer with 36 seconds left on the clock. Oskar Giltay added a dunk during that sequence.
Following halftime, the Huskies upped their lead to 18 on a Mullins 3-point play sandwiched between two Jayden Ross triples in the first 3:40, but Massachusetts native Quinn Costello’s following triple brought Michigan back to within 15.
After Mullins’ bucket, the Huskies went nearly seven minutes without a field goal. McKenney sank three 3s in that span, making it a single-digit game at 64-55 with 9:25 to play.
Less than a minute later, the Huskies scored five quick points in 20 seconds, as Na’jai Hines made a thunderous putback and Nik Khamenia followed with a deep 3-pointer with 8:11 left. McKenney had 15 consecutive Wolverines points before an Estrella tip-in at the 3:48 mark.
Michigan finished a 7-0 run on a Gayle layup with 18 seconds left.
After Estrella’s lob to Moustapha Thiam put Michigan ahead off the opening tip, Mullins responded with his first of two early 3-pointers to spark a 7-0 UConn run. The teams went back and forth from there, as Elliot Cadeau’s five straight points evened the score before Mullins and Demary responded with back-to-back triples.
Demary scored 10 of UConn’s last 12 points before the crucial run.
Michigan closed to 27-25 after Gayle’s 3-point play with 6:29 left in the half. Less than two minutes later, a technical foul charged to UConn’s bench left the door open for the Wolverines, but McKenney missed both technical free throws and Estrella split a pair at the line. The Huskies responded with an 11-3 run.
Gayle, Estrella and Cadeau combined for the Wolverines’ final 28 points of the half.