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Houston Fights Back To Upend Duke And Advance To The NCAA Championship Game

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Basketball

No. 2 Houston staged a 9-0 run over the last 33 seconds and an 11-1 spurt during the final 1:14 to upend No. 1 Duke men's basketball 70-67 on Saturday, April 5, at the Alamodome.

The Blue Devils (35-4) were led by National Player of the Year Cooper Flagg, who scored a game-high 27 points and pulled down seven rebounds to go with four assists, a game-best three blocks and two steals. Kon Knueppel added 16 points, seven rebounds and two assists. 

Duke, which led by as many as 14 in the second half, was held without a field goal during the final 3:03 and hit one of its final nine from the floor as the Cougars (35-4) clawed back.

"The very first thing I want to say is how proud I am to coach these two guys next to me and our entire team.  I mean, it's been a special ride that ended in a heartbreaking way. Frankly, the game, we did what we wanted to do.  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. But I could not be more proud of these two guys next to me.  We've done this thing differently.  What they've done in 18 and 19 years old I couldn't fathom doing.  Just incredible.  But I want to say Houston is a championship-caliber team.  We had a ton of respect for them.  We obviously still do.  Just really disappointed we couldn't make one more play down the stretch."

- Duke head coach Jon Scheyer

HOW IT HAPPENED

  • Duke's defense forced a shot-clock violation on the first possession of the game before Houston hit a three-pointer on the next trip down to open the game's scoring. Kon Knueppel followed by providing Duke its first points of the night from the free throw line with 18:15 on the clock.
  • Knueppel gave Duke its first lead, 5-4, with a corner three-pointer just over four minutes into the contest. A triple by Cooper Flagg, followed by a floater from Tyrese Proctor, pushed Duke in front by four, 10-6. The first media timeout came with 11:51 on the clock and the Blue Devils in the lead, 14-8.
  • Duke held Houston without a field goal for over five minutes and staked claim to an eight-point lead, 18-10, before a Houston three-pointer with 8:25 on the clock snapped the drought. A dunk through contact by Khaman Maluach halted a short six-point burst by the Cougars as the freshman converted the three-point-play to put Duke back in front by six, 21-15.
  • Knueppel connected on his second three-pointer of the half to put Duke in front by double-digits, 26-15, shortly before the final media break of the opening half. Houston closed the first stanza with a flurry of triples, going into the locker room on a 9-3 run, but Duke remained in front, 34-28, at intermission.
  • A quick bucket by Flagg less than 15 seconds into the second half moved the freshman into double-figures, with 10 points. He scored eight of Duke's first 13 points out of the break, keeping the Blue Devils in front by multiple possessions.
  • Knueppel drilled a three-pointer from the wing to put Duke's lead back to double-digits, 50-40, with 14:24 remaining. The lead grew to as large as 14, 56-42, as Flagg reached 20 points from the charity stripe, before the Cougars answered with a 9-3 scoring run to narrow the margin back to eight, 59-51, with less than seven minutes to play. 
  • A 10-point scoring burst by Houston brought the score to 59-55, before two free throws by Proctor out of the under-four timeout stopped the Houston run.
  • A Flagg triple with 3:03 remaining gave Duke some breathing room at 64-55, but the Cougars scored the game's next four points to make it 64-59 with 1:27 to play. After the teams exchanged free throws, Duke led 66-61 with 1:14 remaining.
  • A Knueppel free throw on a technical foul pushed the Blue Devils' advantage to 67-61, but Houston answered with another three with 33 ticks left on the clock. A Duke turnover and Cougar dunk cut the Blue Devil lead to one at 67-66 with 25 seconds remaining. 
  • Duke could not convert on a free throw with 20 seconds left and Houston was fouled on the rebound. J'Wan Roberts converted both free throws to push Houston ahead, 68-67, with 19 seconds to play. 
  • The Blue Devils missed their last shot attempt with eight seconds left and L.J. Cryer tallied two more from the free-throw line for the 70-67 final. 

NOTES:

  • Duke finishes the 2024-25 campaign as one of six teams in program history to win at least 35 games in a season, and the first to do so since the 2014-15 campaign.
  • Jon Scheyer concluded his third year as Duke head coach with 89 career victories to tie Brad Underwood and Brad Stevens for the most wins among Division I head coaches in their first three seasons.
  • The 2024-25 Blue Devils became the first team in ACC history to lead the conference in both scoring offense (83.2 points per game) and scoring defense (62.8 points allowed per game).
  • This was Duke's 18th appearance in the Final Four, equaling UCLA for second-most all time.
  • Since the NCAA Tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1985, Duke has made 13 Final Four appearances, the most by any program during that time span.
  • The Blue Devils are now 11-7 in the national semifinal game, including an 8-3 record since 1990.
  • Duke limited Houston to 37.7% shooting from the floor, having entered the contest connecting on 45.4% from the field.
  • The Blue Devils ended the season holding opponents to 38.4% field goal shooting, the best field goal percentage defense by a Duke team since 1960.
  • Saturday night pitted the top adjusted offense in the country against the top adjusted defense in the country. Duke entered the contest with a 130.1 offensive rating, while Houston boasted an 87.4 defensive rating, according to KenPom.
  • Duke ended the contest with a 24-20 margin for points in the paint and ends the season with an advantage in the category in 31 games.
  • The Blue Devils converted nine Houston turnovers into 12 points, while holding the Cougars to just eight points off Duke's seven giveaways.
  • Duke has now connected on at least one 3-pointer in 1,264 straight games, the longest streak nationally.
  • Cooper Flagg amassed a game-high 27 points and team highs of seven rebounds, four assists, three blocked shots and two steals.
  • Flagg concluded his historic freshman campaign with 709 points – third-highest scoring total by a Duke freshman – averaging 19.2 points per game.
  • Kon Knueppel also scored in double figures with 16 points, while collecting seven boards, two assists and a steal.
  • Knueppel's 3-for-3 performance at the foul line provided the rookie with a season free-throw percentage of .914, the second-best effort from the charity stripe by a freshman in program history.
  • Tyrese Proctor and Sion James contributed seven points each, while James added five rebounds.