Kelvin Sampson raised his arms into the air. LJ Cryer and Emanuel Sharp jumped for joy off the hardwood. Jim Nantz let out tears of joy in the stands.
The Houston Cougars delivered one of the all-time greatest comebacks in NCAA Tournament history on Saturday night at the Alamodome, holding Cooper Flagg and the Duke Blue Devils to one field goal in the final 10:31 en route to a stunning 70-67 come-from-behind win.
Sampson’s team relied on their top-ranked defense and timely shooting to outscore Duke 11-1 over the final 1:26 of the game, earning a Monday night date with the Florida Gators in the national championship game.
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“No one ever loses at anything as long as you don’t quit,” Sampson said in a postgame interview. “When you quit, then I don’t care, you’ve lost.”
Duke held a 14-point lead with just over eight minutes remaining in the game and the vibe inside the Alamodome was one of destiny for the Blue Devils. Flagg looked like he was poised to lead his Duke team to a spot in the title game.
And then, everything changed.
Cryer, a fifth-year senior who transferred after three years at Baylor, engineered six straight points that started with a triple. After another stop, J’Wan Roberts cut the lead to six, and then JoJo Tugler had a putback to chop the lead to four. In just over three minutes, the Cougars were back – or so it looked like it.
Flagg hit a triple with 3:03 remaining to push the Blue Devils’ lead to nine. After a bucket from Emanuel Sharp, the teams traded free throws and Duke was up seven with 1:26 on the clock.
“I said to our group, ‘don’t foul!'” Sampson said in his opening statement following the win. “It’s a lot easier to close out a win when you’re up 20. It’s a lot harder when you’re up three or four.”
With the Blue Devils holding onto a 67-61 lead with just over 40 seconds remaining, Tugler came up with a blocked shot and Sharp drilled a desperation triple from the right wing to cut it down to three points. The next sequence is when the scales tipped, as Sion James‘ inbounds pass was stolen by Mylik Wilson. Tugler slammed home a putback dunk to cut the lead to one.
Duke guard Tyrese Proctor, a 69% free-throw shooter, stepped to the free-throw line and was long on the first attempt. Flagg attempted to grab the rebound but was called for an over-the-back foul.
Roberts, a 63% free-throw shooter who has been shooting 150 free throws every night for the last week, according to Sampson, drained both free throws to put the Cougars up 68-67 with 19 seconds remaining.
“That was a moment where hard work pays off,” Sampson said of Roberts’ free throws.
Duke called timeout and drew a play up for Flagg, but the superstar freshman missed a step-back jumper in the lane. Cryer went on to hit a pair of free throws and a desperation heave by Proctor was long as the celebration was on for the Cougars.
“I hear what people say. ‘Duke this. Duke that.’ Duke’s great. Jon Scheyer is awesome. But don’t sleep on Houston,” Sampson said. “We weren’t 34-4 playing in the Toy Poodle League.”
John Fanta is a national college basketball broadcaster and writer for FOX Sports. He covers the sport in a variety of capacities, from calling games on FS1 to serving as lead host on the BIG EAST Digital Network to providing commentary on The Field of 68 Media Network. Follow him at @John_Fanta.
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