Cougar comeback: Houston claws past Duke in second half, ending Blue Devils’ title hopes
For all of Cooper Flagg’s talents and production, the No. 1 Duke Blue Devils failed time and time again on the offensive end late Saturday night and were shockingly bounced from the NCAA Tournament.
Even with Flagg scoring 27 points, Duke made just one field goal in the game’s final 10 minutes, allowing Houston to erase a 14-point second-half deficit and beat the Blue Devils, 70-67, in the Final Four at the Alamodome.
With Duke trailing 68-67, Flagg took a shot in the lane with eight seconds remaining, but left it short. Houston grabbed the rebound and LJ Cryer’s two free throws sealed the stunning result before a crowd of 68,252 at the Alamodome.
Duke led by as many as 14 points in the second half. It had a 64-55 lead when the clocked ticked under two minutes. It led 67-61 as the clocked ticked under a minute but Houston’s Joseph Tugler blocked Kon Knueppel’s layup attempt with 47 seconds to play and the Blue Devils unraveled from there as the Cougars scored the game’s final nine points.
“It’s heartbreaking,” Duke coach Jon Scheyer said. “It’s incredibly disappointing. There’s a lot of pain that comes with this. That’s what the tournament is all about. You’re an inch away from the national championship game.”
And yet, its the Cougars (35-4), winners of 18 consecutive games, who will play No. 3-ranked Florida (35-4) in Monday night’s NCAA Tournament final at 8:50 p.m. on CBS. The Gators knocked off No. 4-ranked Auburn, 79-73, in Saturday night’s first semifinal.
A 49.6% shooting team for the season, including 56.2% in the NCAA Tournament, Duke (35-4) shot 39.6%, including just 9 of 24 in the second half, to see its 15-game winning streak halted.
Flagg was the only Duke player who hit a field goal in the game’s final 13 minutes.
“They’re a really good defensive team,” said Knueppel, who scored 16 points and was the only Duke player besides Flagg in double figures. “I didn’t think we were sharp the last, whatever it was, 10 and a half minutes. I didn’t think we were as sharp on our execution as we had been for the first 10 minutes of the second half. Tip our hats. They’re a really good defensive team.”
Cryer scored 26 points, making six of nine 3-pointers, to lead the Cougars. Emanuel Sharp added 16.
“It’s definitely emotional,” Cryer said of the epic comeback. “You know, you look at the clock and you like, ‘Dang, this might be it,’ but we just kept fighting and as the game kept getting closer, we was like, man, we can do this.
“It was an out-of-body experience, especially just the way things went down.”
Duke looked to be in control when it took a 56-42 lead with 11:59 to play. But the Blue Devils endured a drought where they didn’t make a field goal for more than seven minutes.
Sharp’s 3-pointer with 32.4 seconds left cut Duke’s lead to 67-64. The Blue Devils had trouble getting the ball inbounds, prompting an official’s review to see if they’d committed a five-second violation. But the officials ruled that not to be the case and Duke retained possession.
But it didn’t matter. Given another chance, Duke turned the ball over as Houston’s Mylik Wilson stole Sion James’ inbounds pass. Wilson missed a 3-pointer, but Tugler slammed home the offensive rebound with 25.5 seconds left, leaving Duke with a 67-66 lead.
Tyrese Proctor was fouled with 20 seconds left but missed the front end of a one-and-bonus situation. Flagg committed a foul on the rebound.
That allowed J’Wan Roberts to make two free throws with 19.6 seconds left, giving Houston a 68-67 lead, its first advantage since the game’s early minutes.
Scheyer called timeout and drew up a play for Flagg, who caught the ball in the lane and had an open look but left it short to bounce off the front of the rim.
“It’s the play coach drew up,” Flagg said. “Took it into the paint. Thought I got my feet set, rose up. Left it short obviously. A shot I’m willing to live with in the scenario. I went up on the rim, trust the work that I’ve put in.”
Leading 34-28 at halftime, after holding a lead as large as 12 in the first half, Duke saw Houston pull even closer as Cryer’s 3-point barrage continued. His shot from behind the arc with 19:21 to play cut Duke’s lead to 36-31.
Cryer hit from deep again with 17:19 to play, leaving Duke with a 41-36 lead.
But Flagg answered for the Blue Devils with a conventional three-point play, scoring inside while drawing a foul and adding a free throw at 16:31. When Flagg and Kon Knueppel hit 3-pointers on consecutive Duke possessions, the Blue Devils’ lead had returned to double digits at 50-40 with 14:24 left.
A James basket inside followed by four consecutive Flagg free throws gave Duke a 6-0 run that pushed the Blue Devils’ lead to 56-42 with 11:59 to play.
The Blue Devils led 59-45 after Proctor split a pair of free throws at 8:17.
But a Duke mistake allowed Houston to make a quick push and get back into the game.
While Cryer hit a 3-pointer at 7:58, Duke’s Mason Gillis hit Houston’s Tugler in the side of the head as they battled for rebounding position. After a replay review, the officials assessed a contact technical foul on Gillis.
Cryer split the two free throws, then scored on a running jump shot at 7:42 and Duke’s lead was suddenly down to 59-51.
With Duke in the midst of going 7:29 without making a shot, Roberts scored inside with 5:53 left.
Tugler tipped in an offensive rebound for a Houston basket at 5:03 and the Duke lead was 59-55, the closest the Cougars had been since the first half.
Proctor hit two free throws with 3:44 left before Flagg drilled a 3-pointer at 3:06, giving Duke a 64-55 lead. But that was the final field goal Duke made.
“There’s a bunch of plays,” Schyer said. “But end of the day, you’re winning, you have the ball, and we came up empty twice with a missed free throw and then a turnover. We just have to finish the deal.”
Houston’s ice-cold shooting for most for the first half allowed Duke to build a lead as large as 12 points. The Cougars started 3 of 17 from the field and were 5 of 25 when Duke took a 26-15 lead on Knueppel’s 3-pointer with 3:50 left in the half.
When Flagg converted a reverse layup while being fouled and added the free throw, Duke was up 31-19.
But Houston hit three 3-pointers in the final 1:43 of the half, two from Cryer, to cut into Duke’s lead, which was 34-28 at halftime.
Knueppel led Duke’s first-half scoring with 12 points as the Blue Devils shot only 41.4%.
This story was originally published April 5, 2025 at 11:58 PM.