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Houston leans on its mantra to complete stunning comeback over the course of the game’s final eight minutes

There was lots of shade being thrown at this tournament through the first two weekends with the lack of upsets and close games, but once we reached San Antonio with four of the best teams in modern history, the critics quieted down. Rightfully so in my eyes, as Saturday night’s semifinals delivered two amazing games, the latter of which became an instant classic between Duke and Houston.

The story coming in was Duke’s elite offense and rather inexperienced team that laid heavy reliance on freshmen Cooper Flagg, Kon Knueppel, and Khaman Maluach against the elite Houston defense full of experience with senior leaders like J’Wan Roberts and LJ Cryer who had already been to the Final Four in their careers. The experience eventually won out, but it wasn’t in a way anyone would’ve expected.

Duke found themselves as the more comfortable team early on, building up an 18-9 lead early and leading by as many as 12 in the first half. Houston cut the deficit down to six going into the break after three made threes in the final two minutes of the half, providing a bit of foreshadowing for the conclusion of the game.

It seemed as if Houston would have momentum out of halftime, but a younger Duke team responded as Flagg and Sion James did the heavy lifting for the Blue Devils. After a 6-0 run in the second half in just under two minutes, Duke’s lead was the largest it had been at 56-42.

Cryer knocked down a three off of an offensive rebound from Joseph Tugler to cut the deficit to 11, but Duke responded once again to push the lead back to 59-45, holding Houston scoreless for three and a half minutes after the Cryer three. When Tyrese Proctor sunk the free throw to give Duke its 14-point lead back, there was 8:17 on the clock.

Usually not a long amount of time, but when facing pressure defense from Houston, it can feel like hours. That’s probably how Duke would describe it too after dealing with it for much of the late game.

First, it was an LJ Cryer mini run of 6-0 in 20 seconds that sparked Houston, cutting the deficit to eight. Then, Houston leaned on its bigs as Roberts and Tugler each got buckets inside, and the score was then 59-55 Duke. Heading into the under-four media timeout, Proctor was headed back to the line, looking to score Duke’s first points since he was there over four minutes prior.

After a 2-for-2 trip from Proctor, Flagg knocked down a three on Duke’s next offensive possession, suddenly pushing the lead back to nine and taking a lot of pressure off of Duke with just over three minutes to go.

That shot from Flagg would be the last Duke bucket from the floor of the game though. The Houston pressure amplified over the final three minutes of the game, as Emanuel Sharp began to take charge, scoring the next nine points for Houston. After Sharp helped cut the deficit to 67-61, he found himself open from three after a Tugler block on the defensive end. Sharp, one of the best shooters in the country, buried the look to put Houston within three.

On the inbounds, Houston forced a turnover, as Mylik Wilson came away with the steal. He would fire a three a few seconds later, and even though it missed, it helped provide a spark as Tugler went up in mid-air and slammed home a put-back dunk. Houston was within one and there was still over 20 seconds to go.

The Cougars fouled to send Proctor back to the line with 20 seconds left, but this time the junior guard missed the front end of a one-and-one, and Cooper Flagg was whistled for a foul going for the rebound over Roberts. Roberts is just a 63.0% free throw shooter on the season, but the sixth-year senior delivered two points from the charity stripe to give Houston its first lead of the second half at 68-67.

On Duke’s opportunity to win it, Roberts once again came up big, forcing a difficult look from Flagg on a fadeaway mid-range jumper. Houston came down with the rebound, LJ Cryer went 2-for-2 from the line, and Duke’s desperation chance in the final three seconds didn’t come close to the rim.

It went down as a 14-point comeback in just over eight minutes of game time, a gritty performance from Kelvin Sampson’s squad in a way only one of his teams could do it. A program that relies so heavily on its culture, it was exactly what the culture of the program is built on, defense and toughness, that got the job done.

The fact that it was J’Wan Roberts on both ends of the floor that helped seal it for Houston makes this one uber-special. Roberts, in his sixth year in the program, has been through the rigors with Sampson year after year, but there may not be a guy that better fits the descriptor of a Kelvin Sampson player than Roberts. Roberts’ grit and toughness go a long way, and you can see it on every defensive possession and any time there’s a loose ball up for grabs.

The box score tally of 11 points, 12 rebounds, five assists, two steals, and one block might not be something to write home about, but anyone who watched the game last night will tell you that Roberts’ handprints were on it as much as anyone. LJ Cryer’s 26 points and Emanuel Sharp’s 16 points obviously can’t be forgotten either, but the main takeaway from this one is how Houston fought to stay alive in this game and held Duke to just one made field goal in the final 10:30 of the game.

In what’s likely the end of Cooper Flagg’s Duke career, the stud freshman went out with 27 points, seven rebounds, four assists, two steals, and three blocks in an all-around great performance.

Meanwhile, Houston will move on and has a chance to win its first-ever national championship in its third national championship game appearance. The Cougars will meet Florida, who took down Auburn 79-73 in the first game on Saturday, in the national championship game on Monday night at 8:50 ET on CBS.

Other Things to Note:

• The National Championship tips off on Monday night at 8:50 ET on CBS as Florida takes on Houston in San Antonio