SAN ANTONIO The sound of a door slamming shut echoed through the sweltering calm of the Duke locker room. The sound of the door banging echoed like a siren in a silent night each time a player or staff member ducked inside the coaches’ locker room next door.
The emotional roller coaster that results from blowing a six-point lead in the last thirty-five seconds is unprepared for by anything. Houston stunned Duke 70-67 in the Final Four on Saturday night, scoring the game’s final nine baskets in 33 seconds, and the Blue Devils were quiet as they tried to comprehend the moment.
On a Powerade cooler, ten boxes of pizza were placed high, and players moved stealthily to get slices. To avoid making eye contact with the residual reporters, they gazed down at their phones. One walk-on had tears in his eyes when he came back from the shower. Another used a pencil to write in a journal.
They reenacted how a six-point advantage may vanish in under 20 seconds. However, two crucial plays in the last 20 seconds by standout freshman Cooper Flagg—a foul and a miss—capped the incredible meltdown despite a barrage of inbounds errors, misses, and mental blunders.
Replays will never forget the play that Flagg missed a 12-foot shot with Duke down one point. A timeout was called with 17 seconds remaining, giving Duke an opportunity to seize the initiative and halt the bleeding. After being cleared by the Blue Devils, Flagg faced Houston sixth-year senior J’Wan Roberts in an isolated encounter. Flagg emerged from the lane and disappeared from the 6-foot-8 Roberts’s extended arms. Off the front rim, the shot caromed.
“It’s the play Coach drew up,” Flagg stated. The paint was applied. I stood up after thinking I had my feet situated. It was plainly brief. In the given situation, I’m willing to live with a shot.”
Neither the play nor the appearance were questioned. It just didn’t enter.
“It’s really that easy to get the best player in the nation in the position that he prefers. Cooper is the best player in the nation.” “We got exactly what we wanted,” Sion James, a senior at Duke, said. Shots go down occasionally, but not always. It didn’t.
With 20 seconds left, Duke’s Tyrese Proctor missed the front end of a one-and-one, and Flagg’s over-the-back foul on Roberts was more difficult to justify. When Flagg was penalized for a foul on Roberts, who was obviously boxing Flagg out, Duke was ahead 67-66.
Flagg put himself and Duke in a precarious situation by seemingly holding down Roberts’ left arm and getting whistled for it. The call’s validity will be discussed for a long time on barstools at the Final Four.
The game was turned around by Roberts, a 63% free throw shooter, who made both ends of the one-and-one to put Houston ahead 68-67 and set up Flagg’s last shot.
Houston’s journey to the national championship game included a game-changing boxout, which is appropriate for a program that embodies a defiant image of grit and toughness. The occasion was summed up by Houston assistant Kellen Sampson, son of Cougars coach Kelvin Sampson, who used one of his father’s folk basketball proverbs.
According to Kellen Sampson, “discipline gets you beat more than great helps you win.” As a child, I must have heard it a hundred million times. Look, the more disciplined you are, the more likely you are to discover yourself taking small, winning actions.
“A big-time free throw blockout was exactly what was needed,” according to him.
Flagg’s foul placed Duke in an impossible situation, regardless of any disagreement with the call. With 35 seconds remaining, the Blue Devils led by six points, but at 19 seconds, they were behind by one. The last swing was the foul: up one to down one.
Houston’s crucial move was to leave Roberts alone on Flagg, something it failed to accomplish in the early going. Following Flagg’s death, the Cougars changed their strategy to allow Roberts to play the game alone.
“We said here at halftime we’re going to trust J’Wan,” Sampson continued. “In his one-on-ones with Cooper, he is performing incredibly well. Most likely, we’re being too helpful.
“There’s a reason you have America’s top defense. Have faith in him.
The most startling figure in the box score was that of Duke center Khaman Maluach, who finished the game with a plus-minus of -20 after failing to grab a rebound in almost 21 minutes of play. Houston’s defenders were their roving selves the whole night.
Getting a hard fight on Flagg’s possible game-winning shot was Roberts’ last line of defense.
“I thought he did an awesome job of getting his hands up high enough that it wasn’t an easy look,” Sampson remarked regarding Roberts. “Some tough shots all night.”
Flagg shot 8 for 19 from the field and finished the game with 27 points. Duke had just one field goal in the final 10:30 of the game, so he didn’t get much support.
With a towel over his neck, he stared into space as he drove back to the Duke locker room in a golf cart at 11:54 p.m. Flagg abruptly faced the end of a season and maybe a college career as he entered the cone of quiet.
Three minutes later, athletic director Nina King was seated in the back, and Duke coach Jon Scheyer rode by with his wife beside him. Duke just surrendered the fifth-largest lead in Final Four history after maintaining a lead of up to 14. The loss will reverberate well into the offseason, much like that slamming door.
“I keep going back, we’re up six with under a minute to go,” Scheyer commented.
“We just have to finish the deal.”
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