Seven months after Michigan ended UConn’s title defense with a national championship celebration, the Huskies got their shot at payback Friday night at TD Garden - and they made it count in a much bigger way than one November win.
No. 4 UConn beat No.
16 Michigan 85-77, moving to 2-0 and giving Dan Hurley an early look at a roster that already has some of the pieces needed for another long NCAA Tournament run. Braylon Mullins led the way with 23 points, Silas Demary Jr. added 21, and freshman Colben Landrew chipped in 14 points and eight rebounds off the bench.
Michigan made a push after halftime, but UConn had already built enough cushion to hold on.
The rematch carried a rare kind of weight. Michigan’s 69-63 win over UConn in April delivered the Wolverines their first national championship since 1989, and Friday’s meeting was just the 11th time since 1996 that the previous season’s title-game opponents faced each other again in the regular season. In Boston, the Huskies looked far more comfortable offensively than they had in that championship loss.
UConn went into halftime with a 43-30 lead after a strong finish to the opening half, and Demary did most of his damage before the break, scoring 17 of his 21 points in the first 20 minutes. The Huskies stretched the margin to as many as 18 points and forced Michigan into chase mode for much of the second half. UConn wasn’t perfect - there was a long scoring drought in the mix - but it still managed to seize control against a ranked opponent.
Mullins gave the Huskies the scoring punch they needed, and he did it efficiently at the line, hitting 10 of 11 free throws. Demary’s line went beyond the points, too, with seven rebounds and four assists to go with his 21. Landrew’s bench production added another layer to what already looked like a deeper UConn group.
The free-throw line told a big part of the story. UConn made 30 of 36 attempts, while Michigan finished 18 of 23. The Huskies also knocked down nine threes to Michigan’s seven, enough to offset a field-goal percentage of 41.8%.
Michigan didn’t fold, though. Trey McKenney scored a career-high 22 points, all in the second half, J.P.
Estrella posted 19 points and nine rebounds, and Roddy Gayle Jr. added 18. The Wolverines actually outscored UConn 47-42 after halftime.
Still, they couldn’t get enough stops to fully erase the damage from the first half. Michigan shot 25% from three-point range, going 7 for 28, and couldn’t keep pace with UConn’s production at the stripe. That gap was too much to overcome.
Of course, November doesn’t decide March. UConn still has to smooth out its offense and cut down on the dry spells that let Michigan hang around. But beating the defending national champions in the first week of the season says plenty about what this group might become.
The Huskies didn’t get back the championship they lost in April. What they did get was something useful: proof that this roster can handle a ranked opponent, play through the spotlight and finish the job. That’s enough to make UConn one of the more intriguing contenders in the national picture already.
In Other News...
UConn Just Got Another Early Reminder The Polls Need Convincing
UConns latest AP Top 25 placement offered a familiar kind of early-season reminder: even after beating Michigan 85-77 in a rematch of last years national championship game, the Huskies are still sitting at No. 4. The top of the poll remains crowded with Florida, Duke and Illinois ahead of them, which means Dan Hurleys team is already in the position of having to keep proving that its early work belongs right there with the nations best.
There will be chances to do exactly that later in the nonconference schedule, including meetings with Duke and Illinois that should give UConn a direct chance to reshape the conversation. For now, the Huskies can at least point to the start they have made, along with some individual recognition for Colben Landrew and Braylon Mullins, who earned Big East weekly honors for their play in the first two games of the season. [Read more 🡒]
UConns Fast Start Has Fans Eyeing A Bigger Early Climb
UConn stayed put at No. 4 in the first AP Top 25 poll of the season after opening with a 2-0 start that already offered a little bit of everything. The Huskies handled Gardner-Webb and then backed it up with a win over No. 16 Michigan, a useful early reminder that last seasons standard is still the one this group is chasing.
Freshman Colben Landrew gave the weekend even more of a lift by earning Big East Freshman of the Week honors, another sign that UConn is getting contributions beyond the usual headline names. The schedule does not ease up for long, either, with Wagner, Ohio State, Arizona and Duke all looming as the Huskies try to turn a promising start into something bigger. [Read more 🡒]
UConns November Statement Just Changed How The Huskies Look Nationally
November has already started to reshape the national picture, and UConn is right in the middle of it. Preseason exhibition results have carried more weight than usual in the early AP Top 25 conversation, with some teams getting pushed down after shaky tune-ups and others falling out altogether before the real games even settle in. For the Huskies, that kind of early movement matters because it changes the way the rest of the country is viewing the defending standard in college basketball.
Michigan States slide after exhibition losses is one sign of how quickly the rankings are being rethought, and Tennessees absence after a rough preseason is another. UConns place in that conversation is a reminder that one strong November statement can ripple beyond a single result, influencing how voters sort the top tier and how the next round of matchups will be judged. The bigger question now is how long that early impression holds once the schedule starts offering more chances for teams to answer back. [Read more 🡒]