After trailing by 14 points in the second half, L.J. Cryer and No. 1 Houston went on an incredible late run to stun No. 1 Duke, 70-67, and advance to the men’s national championship game.
Monday night’s title game will now feature Houston against No. 1 Florida.
Duke led 59-45 with just over eight minutes left in the game and the Blue Devils looked to be headed to their first national championship game since 2015. But Cryer, who was a major reason the Cougars remained in striking distance, sparked a 10-0 run to cut the deficit to four points with five minutes left.
Even as the Blue Devils found their rhythm again, Houston didn’t give up. Emanuel Sharp hit a 3-pointer to make it a three-point game with 32 seconds left, and a steal and a bucket made it a one-point game with 20 seconds remaining.
Houston fouled Tyrese Proctor and he couldn’t make the front end of the one-and-one. On the rebound, Cooper Flagg was called for an over-the-back foul to send J’Wan Roberts to the free throw line. He nailed both shots, and Flagg missed a shot in the lane on the ensuing possession. A pair of free throws from Cryer, who finished with a team-high 26 points, secured the win when Proctor’s wild shot from 3 at the buzzer missed. Houston finished the final 80 seconds on an 11-1 run.
‘Don’t sleep on Houston,’ head coach Kelvin Sampson said afterwards on the CBS broadcast.
Despite the loss, Wooden Award winner Flagg had another signature night for Duke. He had a game-high 27 points, 19 of which came in the second half. His 3-point shot with about three minutes left in the game ended up being the last field goal Duke would make.
The Cougars return to the national championship game for the first time since 1984. This is the third time Houston has made the final, but it’s still seeking its first title. The Cougars are 35-4, extending the school record for most wins in a season and their nation-leading win streak to 18 games. The Cougars also got revenge on Duke after the Blue Devils eliminated Houston in the Sweet 16 last season.
Sampson now has 799 career wins and 299 at Houston; win Nos. 800 and 300, respectively, would finally get him that elusive national championship.
Saturday’s game started out how Houston wanted: physical while controlling the offensive glass. While it got plenty of second-chance opportunities early, it struggled to put the ball in the net. Meanwhile, Flagg and Kon Knueppel got the offense going quickly as Duke took a nine-point lead midway through the first half.
Houston shook off the cobwebs and cut the deficit to three, only for the Blue Devils’ award-winning freshman to get back to scoring. A stellar and-one play from Flagg extended the lead to 12 points late in the first half.
Three-point shots started to hit for Houston as the second half began. The only problem was Duke matched it to maintain a double-digit lead. Flagg completely took over Duke’s offense and the Blue Devils led by as many as 14 points before Houston ended the game on a 25-8 run over the final eight minutes. Duke only made one of its last nine field goal attempts and turned it over five times during that stretch.
Houston’s defense ended up getting the better of Duke’s high-powered offense. Saturday was the sixth time Duke was held to under 40% field goal percentage in a game and the 67 points was the second-lowest amount Duke scored this season. Houston keeps its perfect record going at 33-0 when holding opponents to less than 70 points.
This story has been updated with new information.