SAN ANTONIO — In the quiet Duke locker room, a door slammed, disrupting the stillness. Each time a player stepped toward the coaches’ room, the sound echoed, marking the reality of a painful loss. Duke had a six-point lead with just 35 seconds left but lost it, as Houston scored the last nine points in a shocking Final Four upset, ending the game at 70-67.
The atmosphere was heavy with disbelief. Players picked at boxes of pizza, avoiding eye contact, their phones in hand. A walk-on returned from the shower, tears glistening in his eyes, while another player wrote in a journal, attempting to process the heartbreak.
The Blue Devils’ collapse was hard to accept. They couldn’t believe how quickly a commanding lead had evaporated. Key moments in those final seconds, including a crucial missed shot and a costly foul by star freshman Cooper Flagg, sealed the game’s fate.
Flagg’s missed jumper, shot from 12 feet out while trailing by one, will likely replay in Duke fans’ minds for years. With only 17 seconds left, Duke’s coach had drawn up a play for Flagg, aiming for isolation against Houston’s J’Wan Roberts. Flagg took the shot but missed. “It was the shot we wanted,” Flagg reflected. “I believed I could make it.” Yet, it didn’t go in.
Duke senior Sion James defended him. “Cooper is the best player in the country,” he said. “Sometimes they go in, sometimes they don’t.” Unfortunately, this was one moment when it didn’t.
Even more puzzling was Flagg’s foul on Roberts after a missed free throw by teammate Tyrese Proctor. At that moment, Duke was ahead 67-66. Flagg inadvertently held Roberts’ arm, drawing a foul. Roberts, though not the best free throw shooter, scored both shots, putting Houston ahead, 68-67.
Kellen Sampson, an assistant coach for Houston, highlighted the importance of discipline in basketball, mentioning a saying often shared by his father. “The more disciplined you are, the more you can execute little details to win,” he noted.
This game-changing foul shifted the momentum drastically. Duke lost its six-point cushion in less than 20 seconds. Houston had trusted Roberts defensively, which paid off, allowing him to contain Flagg without additional help, a strategy that proved successful by game’s end.
While Flagg led Duke with 27 points, he didn’t receive much help from his teammates. They struggled offensively down the stretch, making just one field goal in the last 10 minutes. Duke’s center, Khaman Maluach, especially felt the weight of the loss, showing a -20 in plus-minus stats, marking an unnoticed performance.
As Flagg left the court, he sat in a golf cart, wrapped in silence and a towel, reflecting on a season and potential college career that had come to an abrupt end.
Coach Jon Scheyer echoed the team’s remorse, “We were up six with under a minute to go. We just didn’t finish.” This defeat, the fifth-largest lead lost in Final Four history, will linger long after the season, much like the sound of that closing door.
In the aftermath, fans have taken to social media expressing their disbelief and sadness, demonstrating the emotional investment in the season’s journey. This loss serves as a reminder that even in moments of triumph, the game can turn swiftly.
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