Heartbreak in San Antonio: Duke’s Final Four Collapse
SAN ANTONIO — The atmosphere inside the Duke locker room was one of stunned silence, punctuated only by the occasional slam of a door. Each time a player or staff member entered the adjacent coaches’ locker room, the sound echoed like a siren in the stillness of the night. It was a fitting backdrop for a team grappling with the emotional fallout of a devastating loss.
In a game that will be remembered for its dramatic conclusion, Duke squandered a six-point lead in the final 35 seconds against Houston. The Cougars scored the game’s final nine points in just 33 seconds, stunning Duke 70-67 in the Final Four. The Blue Devils were left to process their newfound infamy in a hushed locker room.
Players moved quietly, grabbing slices of pizza from the stack of boxes on a Powerade cooler. They avoided eye contact with the media, their eyes glued to their phones. One walk-on emerged from the shower with tears in his eyes, while another scribbled in a journal with a pencil. The team replayed the sequence of events that led to their collapse, trying to understand how a six-point lead could vanish in less than 20 seconds.
Two key moments in the final 20 seconds from star freshman Cooper Flagg — a foul and a missed shot — capped the stunning meltdown. Flagg’s missed 12-foot jumper, with Duke trailing by one point, will be replayed endlessly. Duke had a chance to regain control and called a timeout with 17 seconds left. The Blue Devils cleared out for Flagg, who faced an isolation matchup with Houston’s sixth-year senior J’Wan Roberts. Flagg’s shot from inside the lane, a fadeaway over the 6-foot-8 Roberts, hit the front rim and bounced away.
“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.”
There was no second-guessing the play or the look. It simply didn’t go in.
“Cooper is the best player in the country, and when you get the best player in the country in the spot he likes, it’s really as simple as that. We got exactly what we wanted,” Duke senior Sion James said. “Sometimes shots go down, sometimes they don’t. That one didn’t.”
More difficult to explain was Flagg’s over-the-back foul on Roberts when Tyrese Proctor missed the front end of a one-and-one with 20 seconds remaining. Duke led 67-66 at the time, and Flagg was called for a foul on Roberts, who had him boxed out.
The validity of the call will be debated for years, but Flagg put himself and Duke in a vulnerable position by appearing to hold down Roberts’ left arm and getting whistled for it.
Roberts, a 63 percent free throw shooter, changed the game by making both ends of the one-and-one, giving Houston a 68-67 lead and setting the stage for Flagg’s final attempt.
For a program known for its grit and toughness, it’s fitting that Houston’s trip to the national title game featured a game-changing box out. Kellen Sampson, a Houston assistant, summed up the moment with one of his father’s folksy basketball sayings.
- “Discipline gets you beat more than great helps you win,” Kellen Sampson said. “I’ve probably heard it a hundred million times growing up. Look, the more disciplined you are, the more that you can find yourself doing little tiny things that’s going to win.”
- “A big-time free throw blockout was exactly what was needed.”
Regardless of the debate over the call, Flagg’s foul put Duke in a suddenly unthinkable position. They went from a six-point lead to trailing by one from the 34-second mark to the 19-second mark. The foul was the final swing, up one to down one.
The key for Houston came from leaving Roberts alone on Flagg, something they didn’t do early in the game. Flagg had been picking them apart with his passing, and the Cougars adjusted to let Roberts handle the matchup by himself.
“We said here at halftime, we’re going to trust J’Wan,” Kellen Sampson said. “He’s doing a heck of a job in his one-on-ones against Cooper. We’re probably over-helping.”
“You have the No. 1 defense in America for a reason. Trust him.”
Roberts and Houston’s defense were relentless all night, with the most jarring statistic being Duke center Khaman Maluach failing to grab a rebound in more than 21 minutes of play and ending the night with a plus-minus of -20.
Roberts’ final act was contesting Flagg’s potential game-winner.
“I thought he did an awesome job of getting his hands up high enough that it wasn’t an easy look,” Sampson said. “Some tough shots all night.”
Flagg finished the night with 27 points, shooting 8-for-19 from the field. He got little help, as Duke had just one field goal over the game’s last 10:30. He rode back to the Duke locker room in a golf cart at 11:54 p.m., staring into space with a towel wrapped around his neck.
He entered the cone of silence, suddenly facing the end of a season and likely a college career.
Three minutes later, Duke coach Jon Scheyer rode past with his wife next to him and athletic director Nina King sitting in the back. Duke just coughed up the fifth-biggest lead in Final Four history. The loss will echo, just like that slamming door, long into the offseason.
“I keep going back, we’re up six with under a minute to go,” Scheyer said.
“We just have to finish the deal.”
Originally Written by: Pete Thamel
