720 miles away from home, UConn was the furthest school on former five-star recruit Braylon Mullins’ radar. He was named Mr. Indiana Basketball in 2025 and grew up just 40 minutes away from Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.
Mullins returned to his home state when No. 6 UConn took on Butler, helping power the Huskies to an 80-70 road win.
UConn (22-2, 12-1) extended its advantage over the Bulldogs (13-12, 4,10) to 12-0 in the all-time series, which dates back to the 2011 National Championship. The Huskies completed their fourth regular season sweep over a Big East opponent of the year.
Mullins jumpstarted the offense with a flurry of three pointers in the first half. He scored 13 points in front of his hometown crowd to give UConn a 41-38 lead at the break. He only logged one more bucket in the second half, a turnaround jumper to give the Huskies a 10-point lead with 2:28 to play.
Solo Ball was the driving force when the Huskies faced Butler in December. He scored a career-high 26 points while knocking down three three-pointers on a 50% clip. Ball was just short of replicating the feat on Wednesday, finishing the night with 24.
He got several clean looks from deep as the Bulldogs defense couldn’t keep track of him off the ball. Ball’s six three pointers were his highest mark of the season and just one shy of his career-best seven against Marquette last year. He had his most efficient night from the field since Jan. 10. against DePaul, shooting 57.1%.
Ball was nominated to the Jerry West Award Midseason Watchlist last week, which is given to the best shooting guard in the country. His three-point shooting has not yet reached the heights it did last season. He is shooting 40.9% from deep in three games since receiving the nod.
UConn dominated the backboard in its 79-60 win over the Bulldogs in December. The Huskies were once again the bigger dogs in the season’s second meeting, with a 33-26 rebounding margin. UConn’s advantage on the offensive glass led to 16 second chance points, to Butler’s eight.
Tarris Reed Jr. And Silas Demary Jr. each notched double-doubles in the winning effort. It was Reed’s fifth of the season and first since Jan. 24. against Villanova. His interior presence opened up the offense around him, which led to him dealing a career high seven assists.
Demary commanded the offense with 10 assists to just two turnovers which followed a nine turnover performance that he called “unacceptable.” He knocked down two triples while also poking away three steals.
He was the primary defender on Butler’s Finley Bizjack, who was the second leading scorer in the conference, entering the game. Bizjack went down with an apparent wrist injury late in the second half amid a 10-0 run from the Huskies, which all but put the game away.
Demary had held Bizjack to just five points on 1/5 shooting. While the defense was able to mitigate Bizjack, it did not play to its usual standard, with four Bulldog scorers ending the night in double figures. The team’s KenPom defensive efficiency rating dipped to No. 8 in the country following the performance.
The Huskies are one of just ten teams in the country to be in the top 25 of both the offensive and defensive efficiency ratings, which has historically been a qualification among national championship contenders.
The win for UConn came after an 81-72 loss to No. 17 St. John’s on Feb. 6., which snapped its18-game winning streak. The two critical factors in that loss: foul shooting and turnovers, which both looked much cleaner on Wednesday night.
The Huskies only committed one turnover in the second half and just eight total. They shot 77.8% from the stripe compared to a 47.4% performance against the Red Storm.
The Huskies will look to ignite another win streak when they return home to face Georgetown on Saturday. UConn pulled out a 64-62 victory when the two met in January.
The game tips off at 8 p.m. and is available to stream on Peacock.