INDIANAPOLIS — UConn acted like the team that belonged and the Huskies are headed back to the national championship game after controlling Illinois start to finish in a 71-62 win Saturday at the Final Four.

Tarris Reed Jr. had 17 points and 11 rebounds and freshman Braylon Mullins had a huge first half and closing exclamation points to win a battle of touted freshmen with Fighting Illini second-team All-American Keaton Wagler.

The Huskies (34-5) defeated Illinois (28-9) for the second time this season and remained the only team to hold the Fighting Illini under 65 points in 2025-26.

Wagler finished with 20 points but was 2 of 10 from 3-point range, worn down by the Huskies challenging him for every inch and movement for the full 37 minutes he was on the court.

UConn came up with an offensive rebound on Alex Karaban’s missed 3 and Mullins knocked down a 3 for his first points of the second half with 52 seconds left.

Wagler had the answer. Facing a full-speed closeout from Silas Demary Jr., Wagler splashed a 3 from the left wing and Illinois spent its final timeout with 43.5 seconds remaining to make it a 66-62 game.

Demery made both free throws and Wagler’s long 3 banged hard off the front of the rim to help the Huskies leave Illinois disheartened and 1-5 all-time in the Final Four.

Earlier, Mullins missed a runner off the glass left of the lane and Reed’s follow didn’t fall for UConn coming out of a Huskies’ late-shot clock timeout. Wagler groud his way into the lane and cut the UConn lead to 63-59 with 1:38 to play.

Wagler missed a 26-foot 3 and a long rebound outlet to Ball put UConn up 61-53. With a chance to extend the lead or run precious ticks off the clock following another Wagler missed 3, the Huskies gave the ball back to Illinois. Ball missed in transition and Ben Humrichous made a 3 in front of the Illini bench to trim the deficit to 61-56 when the media timeout arrived with 2:46 remaining.

“You’ve just got to stay composed. Holding the lead, finding a good shot,” Mullins said. “That’s what we do.”

UConn is in the Final Four for the third time in four seasons and improved to 13-1 all-time on Saturday.

UConn had Illinois on the ropes quickly in the second half, building its lead to 11 with Karaban’s free throws when the Illini beat a double-team trap and found Mirkovic alone for a 3 from the left wing as the clock hit 17:08 to play. Ball got all 3 right back on a transition triple at the other end and a few minutes later made it 52-40 Huskies with a 3 that bounced off the rim twice before settling in the net.

Illinois’ dual-engine offense was slowed to running in fits and starts by UConn’s grinding defense, but the consolation prize paid dividends. The Fighting Illini made 18 of 23 free throws in the game.

They reached the double-bonus on the Huskies 10th foul of the second half with just under nine minutes to play. Kylan Boswell made two free throws and Tomislav Ivisic hit two with 8:03 on the clock, shrinking the UConn lead to 57-49 to awaken a partisan Illinois crowd. With UConn in the midst of a three-minute scoreless stretch, Ivisic got two more at the 7-minute mark, making it 57-51 Huskies.

UConn shrugged off Illinois’ token defensive pressure — the Huskies first turnover of the game was on their 40th possession — and went right at the tandem 7-foot Isivic Twins.

Illinois, which averaged 83.8 points per game, appeared to face challenges with the open shooting background at the south end of Lucas Oil Stadium and shot 34.5 percent in the first half with one assist on 10 field goals. Top free-throw shooter Andrej Stojakovic (82.3% entering Final Four) badly missed a pair in the first half.

The Illini missed their first six 3-point tries with UConn’s full-court press causing the offensive juggernaut to shift approach and attack the paint.

Wagler finally nailed a 3 with 10:30 left in the first half and broke the ice.

Ivisic hit a line-drive lefty 3 to give Illinois its first and only lead of the game, 22-21, in the midst of a nearly four-minute scoring drought for UConn. At that under-8 timeout in the first half, which came at the 6:25 mark, the teams were a combined 15 of 44 from the field.

–Jeff Reynolds, Field Level Media

The Minnesota Timberwolves are not overly obsessed with which specific seed they end up with in the NBA’s Western Conference playoffs.

It’s more important that the Timberwolves feel healthy and are playing well when the postseason tips off.

Minnesota (46-31) will try to snap out of a recent funk when it faces the Charlotte Hornets (42-36) on Sunday evening in Minneapolis. The Timberwolves have lost two games in a row and three of their past four.

The slide has made it increasingly unlikely that the Timberwolves will secure a top-four seed and home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs.

Kyle Anderson said he and his teammates are keeping things in perspective.

“It’s not something you’re going to lose sleep over,” Anderson said when asked about playoff seeding. “(When I played in San Antonio, former coach Gregg Popovich said), ‘You want to win a championship? You’ve got to beat good teams on the road.’

“So that’s what it comes down to. Whoever we see, we’ve got to be willing to do what we’ve got to do to win.”

Minnesota will face a tough test against Charlotte, which is riding a three-game winning streak after victories over the Brooklyn Nets, Phoenix Suns and Indiana Pacers. Their latest win over the Pacers came by 21 points and ensured a winning record in the regular season for the Hornets.

Hornets coach Charles Lee has guided the franchise’s turnaround into a winning team. He said his players needed to keep pressing forward after the big win over Indiana.

“This is not time of year to look past anybody,” Lee said. “You’ve got to stay focused on the opponent in front of you, the opportunity to get better that day. … That team (Indiana), they’re good, they’re well coached. They play fast, force you to communicate and work on your transition defense.

“I thought that we shared the ball phenomenally (against the Pacers). To have six guys in double figures, 31 assists; (I) love how we played.”

The Timberwolves are not certain whether they will have their top player for Sunday’s game. Anthony Edwards is listed as questionable because of inflammation in his right knee, which sidelined him for a couple of weeks in March.

Edwards also dealt with a recent illness but played Friday against the Philadelphia 76ers. He struggled badly as he finished with eight points on 3-for-15 shooting, including 0-for-7 shooting from 3-point range.

“Offensively, it didn’t look like he had a lot of juice (against the 76ers),” Timberwolves coach Chris Finch said. “But all credit for him playing through what he’s been through over the last number of days.”

Edwards leads the Timberwolves with 28.9 points per game on 48.9% shooting. Julius Randle adds 21.1 points per game, but Minnesota will be without defensive standout Jaden McDaniels (14.8 points per game), who is week-to-week (knee).

Charlotte is led by Brandon Miller, who is averaging 20.4 points on 43.7% shooting. LaMelo Ball is next with 19.5 points per game, and rookie Kon Knueppel is averaging 18.8 points while shooting 43.1% from beyond the arc.

–Field Level Media

No. 4 Tommy Paul rallied for his fourth consecutive win over fellow American and second-seeded Frances Tiafoe, 7-5, 4-6, 7-6 (7), on Saturday in the U.S. Men’s Clay Court Championship semifinals at Houston.

Paul clinched his first ever ATP clay-court final appearance in a grueling 2-hour, 45-minute match that was marred by rain throughout, including a 90-minute delay during the second set. Paul thrived behind 14 aces and no double faults while converting two of five break-point opportunities in the pivotal deciding set.

It was back-and-forth in the final set with Tiafoe notching the first break and Paul breaking him right back in the next service. Then the reverse happened with Paul grabbing a break and Tiafoe nabbing it right back a service game later. In the deciding tiebreaker, Paul squandered two match points up 6-4 before advancing by winning two straight points to break a 7-7 tie.

In another semifinal between competitors from the same country, Argentina’s Roman Andres Burruchaga easily dispatched Thiago Agustin Tirante 6-1, 6-1 to set up a date with Paul. Burruchaga converted 5 of 8 break opportunities while never facing one. Tirante had 25 unforced errors to Burruchaga’s 10.

Grand Prix Hassan II

Qualifier Marco Trungelliti (ATP No. 117) of Argentina continued his Cinderella run by taking down top-seeded Italian Luciano Darderi 6-4, 7-6 (2) in Marrakech, Morocco.

Trungelliti clinched a spot in the final and is the oldest first-time finalist in ATP Tour history at 36. En route to the final, Trungelliti took down the fifth, third and first seeds. Trungelliti converted four of six break-point opportunities and capitalized on Darderi’s eight double faults to deny the Italian a repeat championship in the event.

Spain’s Rafael Jodar will try to halt Trungelliti’s magical run after he took down Argentinian Camilo Ugo Carabelli in straight sets 6-2, 6-1 in just 63 minutes. Jodar was never broken and held a 23-8 advantage in winners. This would also be the first title for Jodar, who at 19 years old, made his tour debut earlier this year at the Australian Open and is competing in his first tour-level clay tournament.

Tiriac Open

Qualifier Daniel Merida Aguilar of Spain came back from a set down to upset Hungarian third seed Fabian Marozsan 6-7 (4), 6-3, 6-1 in a semifinal match in Bucharest, Romania.

After dropping the first set, Merida Agular knocked home four of his six break-point attempts over the final two sets, finishing with 35 winners. He defended his serve well throughout as he saved 17 of the 18 break points he faced to overcome his 39 unforced errors and reach his first tour-level final.

Seventh-seeded Argentinian Mariano Navone saved two match points to come back and beat eighth-seeded Botic van de Zandschulp of the Netherlands 5-7, 7-6 (3), 7-5. Navone capitalized on 65 unforced errors from van de Zandschulp and broke him six times. He hit 82% of his first serves and will also be looking for his first tour-level title after losing the 2024 Bucharest championship match.

–Field Level Media