Stifling Defense Late Propels Houston Past Duke

The Houston Cougars had played admirable defense all game long, but they just could not muster enough offense to defeat a very talented Duke team led by the presumptive No. 1 pick in June’s NBA Draft. 

At least that is what things looked like with 1:14 remaining in Saturday’s second National semifinal. 

Until they didn’t. 

In stunning fashion, the Cougars went on an 11-1 run in the final 74 seconds to come away with a 70-67 triumph. 

The Cougars took their second lead of the game with just 19.6 seconds left, 68-67, after J’Wan Roberts made two free-throws. 

On the next defensive possession, Roberts put up a great contest of Cooper Flagg’s inside jump shot, and guard Malik Watson hustled to rebound the ball. L.J. Cryer made both of his free-throws as Houston led 70-67 with 3.7 seconds on the clock. On Duke’s final inbound, Cryer, who deflected the inbound pass, crowded Duke guard Kon Knueppel. Knueppel’s desperation toss to a teammate for a final attempt landed in the hands of Tyrese Proctor, and Cryer alertly went into hands-off mode, Proctor firing a last second heave that went over the backboard. 

Possessing the nation’s No. 1 scoring defense (58.3 points per game), the Cougars leaned on their defensive skills when they needed to the most. 

Flagg scored 27 points, but shot 8-for-19, below his season average of 48%. Proctor, 46% on the season, shot just 2-for-8. Sion James, a 52% shooter, was 3-for-9. 

Cryer’s 26 points and 5 rebounds (8-for-14, 6-for-9 from deep) led the Cougars, with Emanuel Sharp scoring 16 points on just 4-for-13. Roberts finished with 11 points, 12 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 steals, and 1 block, while Joseph Tugler blocked 4 shots. 

The Blue Devils still outshot the Cougars 40% to 38%, but the Cougars had a big 42-31 rebounding advantage. Duke turned the ball over seven times. Houston turned the ball over nine times. 

The game was your classic battle of offense vs. defense, one team with all the defensive advantages and the other team having the star player whose offense you knew was going to put his team over the top. 

For a minute, it looked like shades of a battle like Game 7 of the 2010 NBA Finals, the Celtics the supreme defenders, but the Lakers having Kobe Bryant and just enough offense to answer the bell and pull through. 

But Kelvin Sampson’s group flipped the switch, holding an offensive juggernaut to just one made field-goal in the final 10:30 of the game. The win is Sampson’s first in the Final Four as a head coach. 

The Cougars, making their first championship game appearance since 1984, will face the Florida Gators on Monday. The Gators, another 35-4 team like Houston and Duke, defeated Auburn 79-73 in Saturday’s first semifinal game behind 34 points (11-for-18, 5-for-8 from 3-point range) from star guard Walter Clayton Jr. 

Monday should be an outstanding matchup and it will be fascinating to see Clayton Jr. go up against the Cougars’ rugged defense.