Houston Pulls Off Miraculous Comeback As Duke Chokes Away Final Minute Of Final Four
Houston is heading to the national championship game on Monday night against Florida after pulling off one of the wildest runs in Final Four history, beating Duke 70-67 on Saturday night in San Antonio.
As we all watched Cooper Flagg dominate most of the game, it was too good to be true for the Blue Devils, as they choked away a shot at playing for a title, thanks to a mind-blowing comeback by Houston.
We have seen some wild endings in college basketball, but what we saw in the Final Four semifinals on Saturday night will be talked about for years to come. This game was seemingly over, as Duke led by ten points with just over 1:15 remaining in the game.
What transpired from that point on was pure chaos, in the craziest ways possible. Forget the fact that Duke led 59-45 with ten minutes remaining in the game, it was the final two minutes that led to pure chaos inside the Alamodome.
The Cougars went on a 9-0 run over the final :33 seconds of the game to pull off one of the wildest comebacks in not only Final Four history, but in all of college basketball. After a number of missed free throws, along with some intense defense from Houston, the Cougars finally got it within one-point.
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And just when you thought Duke would ice the game with a few free throws, the Blue Devils clanked a one-and-one, and then a foul was called on Cooper Flagg that sent Houston marching down to the other end, hitting two free throws to take the lead.
All that was left was Duke trying to drain a Hail-Mary shot to send the game into overtime, which came up short as a massive crowd of Houston fans erupted in pure madness.
"Frankly, the game, we did what we wanted to do," Jon Scheyer said postgame. "I thought our guys followed the game plan, controlled the game, we had the lead for 35 minutes, winning by six with a minute 15 to go. They made plays. You got to give 'em a ton of credit. We didn't make those plays.
"You go from some of the most special moments in the tournament to the most heartbreaking loss. I'm not about to feel sorry for one second. These guys have done an incredible job. It's heartbreaking. 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."
Houston Never Gave Up, Rewarded With National Title Shot
Besides the players on the Houston bench, I would think that everyone inside the Alamodome was concerned about getting to their cars and fighting the traffic. But, as we've seen all season long, this Kelvin Sampson-led Houston team doesn't know how to just give up.
So, with their backs against the wall, Houston just kept punching, playing small-ball until the final seconds would drain off the clock, win or lose. Well, it was the Cougars defense that showed up in the final ten minutes to give their guys a chance to advance, with a flury of haymakers on offense.
"We did a great job on all the other guys. Knueppel, he made some tough threes. Cooper Flagg, Cooper was not going to beat us by himself," Kelvin Sampson said postgame. "I felt like if we could just hang in there, even when we were down 14, these guys will tell you what I was talking about in the huddle was, Just hang in there, hang in there."
But, for Duke to give away that big of a lead, as Houston finished on an 11-1 run over the final minute of the game, the Blue Devils will certainly never get over this loss.
"I hear what people say. 'Duke this. Duke that.' Duke's great. Jon Scheyer is awesome. But don't sleep on Houston. Don't sleep on Houston. We weren't 34-4 playing in the Toy Poodle League," Kelvin Sampson said postgame.
Nope, you sure weren't Houston, and now more Cougar fans will make the trek to San Antonio to watch the Cougars play Florida for a national championship on Monday night.
Sometimes you can’t make this stuff up, even if it feels like something straight out of a movie.