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Comedian and acting icon Bill Murray watched on with baited breath in Philadelphia as the UConn Huskies outlasted a resilient effort from UCLA in the second round of March Madness.
The two-seed Huskies overcame an early deficit to beat the seven-seed Bruins 73-57 on a night where both teams were hampered with injuries.
Murray was there to support his son, Luke Murray – a two-time national champion, the architect of the UConn offense, and one of the top assistant coaches in the country.
The ‘Scrooged’ actor has often been in attendance at big games to watch Luke at his job. The Daily Mail photographed him in 2023 at the Final Four taking photographs as Luke cut down the nets on the first championship he won.
The Huskies entered the game with injuries to starting point guard Silas Demary Jr and forward Jaylin Stewart that kept both of them out of the opening round. As for UCLA, they dealt with an injury to big man Tyler Bilodeau.
At the time of tip off, Bilodeau was ruled out of the game while Demary was cleared to play. Stewart was in uniform, but did not log any minutes.
Legendary comedian Bill Murray celebrated as UConn advanced to the Sweet 16
Bill watched on as his son, Luke Murray, served as an assistant coach for the Huskies
Alex Karaban led the Huskies to the victory to clinch their third Sweet 16 in four seasons
Connecticut was led by super senior and program icon Alex Karaban, who put up a career-high 27 points along with five rebounds in the victory.
Center Tarris Reed, who dropped 31 points and 27 rebounds against Furman, logged 10 points and 13 rebounds on Sunday night.
In the process, he totaled 41 points and 40 rebounds on the first weekend of the tournament – becoming the first player to log 40+40 since Tim Duncan in 1997 for Wake Forest.
Meanwhile, UCLA was led by Xavier Booker’s 13 points and five rebounds while guard Donovan Dent dropped 11 points, two rebounds and nine assists.
Ahead of tipoff, the media hyped up the explosive personalities of UCLA coach Mick Cronin and UConn coach Dan Hurley. During the game, Cronin was assessed a technical foul for sarcastically clapping at an official.
Hurley and his Huskies are now off to the Sweet 16 for the third time in four seasons. They will travel to Washington, DC to take on three-seed Michigan State – who Connecticut previously beat in a preseason exhibition game.
