Cayden Boozer’s pass got deflected near midcourt with seconds left, and by the time UConn came up with the ball, there was time for one shot from well behind the arc.

Braylon Mullins made it with four-tenths of a second on the clock, giving the Huskies a 73-72 win over top-seeded Duke in Sunday’s East Region final in Washington and ending the Blue Devils’ season one game short of the Final Four.

UConn had trailed by 19 in the first half. Duke led by three in the closing minute before Silas Demary Jr. made one of two free throws with 10 seconds left, cutting it to two. The Blue Devils then tried to keep the ball away from a UConn team looking to foul, and the deflection set up Mullins.

It was the second straight season to end in a late collapse for Duke, which held a six-point lead with 1:14 remaining against Houston in last year’s national semifinal. The Blue Devils came into this tournament as the overall No. 1 seed after winning the ACC regular season and tournament titles, and had rallied from a 10-point second-half deficit to beat St. John’s 80-75 in the Sweet 16.

North Carolina’s tournament was shorter. The sixth-seeded Tar Heels lost 82-78 to 11th-seeded VCU in the first round. NC State also went out early, falling 68-66 to Texas in a First Four game.

Michigan won the national championship. On the women’s side, UCLA took the title, with North Carolina reaching the Sweet 16 before losing 63-42 to UConn.

Duke and North Carolina split their regular season meetings, with Duke taking the March 7 finale in Durham 76-61.