Braylon Mullins announces he will return to UConn for sophomore season

The most anticipated news of the UConn men’s basketball offseason came Saturday as star Braylon Mullins announced his decision on social media to put off the NBA Draft for a second year in Storrs.

Mullins was projected to be picked anywhere from late lottery to the mid-20s in the first round of the draft after averaging 12.0 points, 3.5 rebounds and 1.4 assists per game in his freshman season with the Huskies.

Now he’ll be one of the most well-known and marketable players in college after nearly 20 million people watched his game-winning 35-foot shot against Duke live. Millions more have watched the clip online, replaying all of the angles as the five-star Indiana kid punched UConn’s ticket to Indianapolis for the Final Four.

That shot came amidst a lengthy shooting drought which hurt Mullins’ numbers for his freshman season.

He was 0-for-4 from beyond the arc against the Blue Devils prior to that shot and came into second weekend of the NCAA Tournament having made just 6 of 42 attempts in the month of March. Touted as one of the best shooters in his high school class, Mullins spent most of the season around 40% from beyond the arc until his percentages took a hit with that slump, finishing the year with a 33.5% mark from deep.

He snapped out of it come April, when he was back about a half hour from home in Greenfield, Ind. at the Final Four. The freshman helped lead the Huskies over Illinois with four triples and made three in the title game to go 41% at Lucas Oil Stadium.

Mullins’ potential has always been there but it wasn’t realized until he recovered from an offseason ankle injury and visited Kansas’ historic Allen Fieldhouse in his second career game. The freshman led UConn to its first-ever win over the Jayhawks in one of the toughest buildings to play a college basketball game as he scored 17 points and grabbed five rebounds, clinching the game at the free throw line.

He started to hit his groove in Big East play, making five triples in a win over Xavier, then six as he took over in overtime at Providence and led the Huskies’ comeback victory with 24 points. Mullins had 16 points as UConn won at Creighton for the second year in a row and then set a new career-high with 25 points when the Bluejays visited and beat the Huskies in Storrs. He looked as much like an NBA player as he did all season to clinch a spot in the Big East Tournament championship game after going off for 21 points to beat Georgetown in the semifinal.