Braylon Mullins’ March heroics for UConn were good enough to land him on the ESPY stage, but not good enough to take home Play of the Year.
OG Anunoby’s tip-in for the New York Knicks in Game 4 of the NBA Finals won the award Wednesday night, edging Mullins and three other nominees. In a year full of big moments, Anunoby’s finish came out on top.
Mullins’ case was built on a shot that saved UConn’s season. On March 29 against Duke, the Huskies were down 72-70 with 10 seconds left after the Blue Devils had once built a 19-point lead.
Then Mullins and Solo Ball came up with pressure defense to force a steal with 5.8 seconds remaining. After the scramble, Mullins got the ball back with less than a second left and buried a long 3-pointer to give UConn a 73-72 win and send the Huskies to the Final Four.
Anunoby’s play came in a different kind of spotlight, but it was still massive. The Knicks forward tipped in a missed shot by Jalen Brunson with 1.2 seconds left in Game 4 on June 13.
That basket helped New York put itself in position to beat the San Antonio Spurs in the series. The Spurs had blown a 29-point lead at Madison Square Garden in that game, and without Anunoby’s tip-in, the series would have gone back to San Antonio tied 2-2.
Instead, the Knicks moved ahead 3-1 and later returned to New York after a series-clinching Game 5 win with the franchise’s first NBA championship since 1973.
The other finalists were Megan Keller and Jack Hughes, whose golden goals gave the United States women’s and men’s hockey teams gold medals in the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics in February, and Chicago Bears quarterback Caleb Williams, whose touchdown play against the Los Angeles Rams in the NFC Divisional Series in January sent that game to overtime.
Prediction site Kalshi had Anunoby as the clear favorite on Wednesday, with Mullins second.
Elsewhere, ESPN bracketologist Joe Lunardi has already put out his early projections for the 2027 men’s NCAA Tournament, and the view of UConn is a little cooler than some Huskies fans might want. Roundtable’s Brady Farkas noted Wednesday that Lunardi has UConn as a No. 3 seed, down from the No. 2 seed it earned this past season.
The Huskies reached the NCAA title game before losing to No. 1 Michigan, and they have played in the championship game in three of the last four years, winning two titles.
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The projection comes with some obvious reasons attached, from roster turnover to a brutal schedule that will ask plenty of this group before March ever arrives. With the NCAA Tournament set to expand to 76 teams and a new First 12 round added, the path to a favorable seed may feel even more crowded, and UConns early season will do a lot of the talking long before the bracket does. [Read more 🡒]