SAN ANTONIO — The lead was nine points with 2:15 remaining, and even as Duke struggled to convert on the offensive end there was no thought given to the idea the Blue Devils might actually lose to Houston in this battle of No. 1 seeds in the national semifinal at the Final Four.
The lead was down to seven points with 1:26 to play. To six points at the 42-second mark. Again, the very idea the Blue Devils’ season would end before the national championship game was ridiculous, ludicrous, preposterous.
But it’s called March Madness for a reason. Trailing 64-55, Houston outscored Duke 15-6 over the final two-plus minutes to reach Monday night’s matchup against Florida. No team had ever given away so much in so little time on college basketball’s biggest stage.
“You go from some of the most special moments in the tournament to the most heartbreaking loss,” Duke coach Jon Scheyer said. “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.”
Given the stakes, the names involved and the seemingly unavoidable Duke win, what unfolded over these final 135 seconds might be the most stunning stretch in Final Four history. How it’s seen depends on the point of view: To Duke, it’s an epic meltdown without precedent in program history; to Houston, it’s a classic comeback that helps erase generations of Final Four failures.
“At some point, if you have a culture, quitting is not part of the deal,” said Houston coach Kelvin Sampson. “We’re not going to quit. We're just going to play better.”
What happened is easily definable. The Blue Devils were in control, and then they weren’t. The Cougars hammered away, pelting Duke with body blow after body blow, and put themselves in position to deliver a stunning knockout punch. Duke gave it away and Houston took it away. Both are simultaneously true.
How it happened, on the other hand, is harder to explain — probably because this late reversal of fortune utterly defies explanation. National championship-caliber teams are not supposed to cough up nine-point leads in the final minute-plus, nor give up the 14-point lead Duke held with 8:17 to play. This Duke team in particular was seen as the favorite to win the program’s sixth national championship. How could the Blue Devils lose?
Multiple factors contributed to the second-largest second-half comeback in Final Four history, trailing Loyola-Chicago’s rally from 15 points down with 14 minutes remaining to beat Cincinnati in overtime in the 1963 championship game.
One was Duke’s willingness to step off the gas. After Houston cut the lead to 44-38 on a second-chance dunk with 15:37 to play, the Blue Devils responded with a 15-7 run over the next seven minutes. Momentum was in their corner. Duke allowed Houston to climb back into the mix with a 3-pointer and a technical foul on senior Mason Gillis, giving the Cougars a 4-point swing in a four-second span that changed the complexion of the game’s final eight minutes.
“As long as there’s time on the clock, we’re going out there and giving it our all,” said guard L.J. Cryer, who scored a team-high 26 points.
Another was the Cougars’ willingness to unwaveringly stick to their style of play, calmly ...
