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NCAA Men’s Final Four preview
NCAA Men’s Final Four features all No. 1 seeds
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Houston’s suffocating defense wiped away a 14-point deficit over the final eight minutes and erased Cooper Flagg and Duke’s title hopes Saturday in a 70-67 stunner over the Blue Devils at the Final Four.Duke made a grand total of one field goal over the last 10 1/2 minutes of this game. The second-to-last attempt was a step-back jumper in the lane by Flagg that J’Wan Roberts disrupted. The last was a desperation heave by Tyrese Proctor that caught nothing at the buzzer.
J’Wan Roberts #13 and Mylik Wilson #8 of the Houston Cougars react during the second half in the Final Four game of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament against the Duke Blue Devils at the Alamodome on April 05, 2025 in San Antonio, Texas.
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It was Roberts’ two free throws with 19.6 seconds left that gave the Cougars their first lead since 6-5. LJ Cryer, who led Houston with 26 points, made two more to push the lead to three. It was Houston’s biggest lead of the night.The Cougars, who never won a title, not even in the days of Phi Slama Jamma, will play Florida on Monday night for the championship.Florida’s 79-73 win over Auburn in the early game was a free-flowing hoopsfest. This one would’ve looked perfect on a cracked blacktop and a court with chain-link nets.
That’s just how Houston likes it. It closed the game on an 11-1 run, and though Flagg 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 up by nine.It looked over at that point. Houston was just getting started.A team that prides itself on getting three stops in a row — calling the third one the “kill stop” — allowed a measly three free throws down the stretch.Houston finished with four blocked shots, including four from its eraser, Joseph Tugler.
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