SAN ANTONIO (AP) — Sorry guys, “Phi Slama Jama” is already taken. How ’bout something simple, like “Comeback Kids.”
“National champs” might be a possibility, too.
Houston’s no-room-to-breathe defense wiped away a 14-point deficit over the final eight minutes, erased Cooper Flagg and Duke’s title hopes and brought the Cougars within a win of a championship of their own Saturday night with a 70-67 stunner over the Blue Devils.
Led by Joseph Tugler’s four blocks and an amoeba-like defense that smothers everything, Houston held Duke to a grand total of one field goal over the last 10 1/2 minutes. The 67 points were Duke’s second-lowest output of its now-ended season.
The Blue Devils’ second-to-last attempt during their contest-ending 1-for-9 stretch was a step-back jumper in the paint by Flagg that J’Wan Roberts disrupted. The last was a desperation heave by Tyrese Proctor that caught nothing at the buzzer and sent Flagg and company shuffling off in shock.
“We just had to keep that belief and keep the faith,” said L.J. Cryer, who won a title with Baylor in 2021 and led the Cougars in this one with 26 points.
This is the program’s first trip to the final since 1984 — which marked the official close of the Phi Slama Jama era, a fun-and-gun dunkfest that never won the title despite the efforts of Clyde Drexler and Hakeem Olajuwon, who was at the Alamodome for this one.
Lots has changed since then. One constant: Defense wins championship.
Houston has allowed the fewest points this season and even against Duke, with Flagg, Kon Knueppel (16 points) and a roster with five or six NBA prospects, it made things impossible down the stretch.
“Got to give them a lot of credit for what they do every single night they play,” Flagg said. “We could have been a little bit more sharp down the stretch executing some things. At the end of the day, you got to give them a lot of credit, as well.”
It was Roberts’ two free throws with 19.6 seconds left that gave the Cougars their first lead since 6-5. Cryer made two more to push the advantage to three. That matched Houston’s biggest lead of the night.
The Cougars (35-4), who have never won a title, will play Florida on Monday night for the championship.
Florida’s 79-73 win over Auburn in the early game was a free-flowing bundle of fun. This one would’ve looked perfect on a cracked blacktop and a court with chain-link nets. Neither team cracked 40% shooting.
That’s just how Houston likes it.
It closed the game on a 9-0 run over the final 33 seconds, and though Flagg, the AP Player of the Year, finished with 27 points, he did it on 8-for-19 shooting and never got a good look after his 3 at the 3:02 mark put the Blue Devils (35-4) up by nine.
“Knowing going into that game that he was the player of the year, that he brought his team to the Final Four, we knew it would be challenging,” Roberts said.
Trailing 64-55, things looked dire for the Cougars. But they were just getting started.
A team that prides itself on getting three stops in a row — calling the third one the “kill stop” — strung together two stretches like that, broken up only by Flagg’s 3.
Duke settled for a measly three free throws over the final 3 minutes. One came when Tugler got a technical for batting the ball from Sion James’ hands as he was trying to throw an inbounds pass.
That didn’t make things any better for the Blue Devils.
On the possession following the technical, Tugler rejected Knueppel, then Emanuel Sharp (16 points) made a 3 to cut the deficit to three.
Mylik Wilson stole the next inbounds pass and missed a game-tying 3, but Tugler tipped it in to cut the deficit to one.
Proctor missed the front end of a 1-and-1 with 20 seconds left to set the stage for the Roberts free throws.
Duke’s slow walk off the court came through a phalanx of Houston fans who waved goodbye to Flagg, who will likely be off to the NBA as the first pick in the draft.
Houston held Duke to 37.5% shooting in the second half; that was nearly 20% lower than its first four games of the tournament, which included a blowout over the nation’s best offense, Alabama, in the Elite Eight.
“We held that team to 67 points,” Houston coach Kelvin Sampson said, marveling at what his team had done.
The Cougars finished with six steals and six blocked shots, and a bunch more altered by Roberts and Tugler, who might be the best shot blockers to wear that Cougars uniform since Olajuwon himself.
There are no stats, however, for the heart Houston showed after the country’s best player had all but buried them with 8 minutes to go.
“Cooper was not going to beat us by himself,” Sampson said. “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.'”
Big win for AI
The huge comeback also netted a $1 million win for artificial intelligence. An AI disruptor bet a professional gambler that his program could do a better March Madness bracket, and it all came down to the Duke-Houston game.
Even if the Houston loses in the final, the AI bracket will get more points in the contest and the disruptor, Alan Levy, will pocket the million bucks.
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