A heartbreaking loss ended the Duke Blue Devils’ season in the Final Four after a dominant season to that point. The late collapse may not be just happenstance but rather a trend that followed the Blue Devils in each of their losses.
Duke’s Late Game Troubles and Inexperience Come Back to Bite Blue Devils in the Biggest Moment
The Duke Blue Devils have been arguably the best team in the country over the past three months, reaching the Final Four off the strength of a 15-game win streak.
They ranked in the top 10 in both points allowed and points scored. The roster includes three surefire lottery pick freshmen, multiple five-star prospects, and eventual draft picks. Their top player, Cooper Flagg, is considered a generational talent and won the AP National Player of the Year. They were the highest-rated KenPom team since 1999.
The 2024-25 Blue Devils were good. Really good.
But that sentiment may have been their demise — as odd as that sounds.
Duke didn’t face a ranked team from December 8 until March 14 — a span of 96 days and 25 games. The fact that the Blue Devils went 24-1 during that stretch is irrelevant. What is relevant is that they only played in six games decided by 10 points or less. Shorten that number down to six points, and only two games will fall in that range.
One of them, a defeat at the hands of the Clemson Tigers on February 8, proved to be their final regular-season loss. A sold-out crowd packed Littlejohn Coliseum in South Carolina to watch the Tigers take on the second-ranked Blue Devils that Saturday afternoon. As the score tightened with five minutes remaining, seemingly everyone in the building was on their feet for the remainder of the game.
The pressure was squarely on Duke.
And while Flagg scored 12 points in the final 5:16, showing a willingness to take the big shot, he committed a costly turnover with 12 seconds left.
The Tigers nursed a two-point lead as Flagg isolated his defender in the middle of the floor from a couple of feet behind the three-point line. A simple rip-through maneuver enabled the freshman to get a step on his defender, heading to the right side of the rim.
A defender stepped in front — but not before Flagg reared to set his feet and rise up for a short jumper. The only problem was that his feet never quite stuck to the floor, slipping out from under him as he fell to the floor. A travel was called, giving the ball back to Clemson with 12 seconds remaining. The senior-laden Tigers went on to win, 77-71, after nailing four consecutive free throws to put the game away and take down Duke.
It was a surprising loss in that it snapped a 16-game winning streak. No alarm bells were sounded in the aftermath — losses happen, which is certainly true, as the Blue Devils had only three L’s to their name at that point. But how they lost should’ve raised some eyebrows in terms of how this young team would perform once they reached the postseason.
Flagg’s late-game turnover wasn’t uncharted territory. He had turned the ball over in an eerily similar fashion in the final seconds in early season losses to the Kansas Jayhawks and Kentucky Wildcats.
In isolation situations in both games, the freshman simply lost the ball (against Kansas) and stepped out of bounds after falling (against Kentucky), turning it over to the other team and eventually leading to Blue Devil losses. At that time, that was the talk of Flagg as a prospect: can he become a go-to scorer in the clutch?
While he answered the question of becoming Duke’s go-to scorer throughout the game, he wasn’t given many chances to provide an answer for that idea. Yes, he was the best player in college basketball throughout the season. Yes, he did have moments where he took over a game. But none came down to the final possession like the Blue Devils’ three regular-season losses.
Heading into the tournament, Duke was the nation’s top pick to win it all. And, considering their resume at a glance, they were a good pick.
But they’d have to overcome something they hadn’t ever fully executed in the regular season: late-game situations. It was bound to happen at some point in the tournament.
On Saturday night, in the Final Four against the Houston Cougars, the very moments when late-game execution was needed occurred.
Similar to Clemson, Houston has a veteran core. They’d been in these moments before, battling through an NCAA Tournament game. Meanwhile, arguably, Duke’s top three players are all freshmen, with Flagg and center Khaman Maluach being only 18 years old. Kon Knueppel, the sweet-shooting forward from Wisconsin, is 19 but still only a freshman.
Throughout the game, the Blue Devils looked like the better team. They led by as much as 12 points in the first half before taking a six-point lead to halftime. With just over 11 minutes remaining in the game, they found themselves with a 14-point lead. Their chances looked good. Then, Flagg and his squad simply could not put the ball in the hoop — it was as if a lid was placed on the rim for the final 10 minutes of play.
After Flagg made a short jumper to make the score 58-45 with 10:36 to go, the Blue Devils made only one more field goal for the entirety of the game.
That lone basket was a three-pointer by Flagg to push the lead to nine with 3:03 remaining. Despite the untimely drought, Duke looked to be in a good position to close it out — maybe even without late-game execution, as they were in a position to push it to double-digits.
The Cougars simply weren’t going to let that happen.
More specifically, Emanuel Sharp didn’t let that happen. After previously going two of 11 from the field and scoring only seven points, the junior came alive late.
His layup and four free throws in the final 2:05 continued to press the issue, keeping Houston within striking distance. But his three-pointer with 33 seconds left cut the lead from six to three and pushed Duke to the brink of panic mode.
From there, Sion James, a fifth-year senior, was set to inbound the ball.
After nearly succumbing to a five-second violation, James dangerously threw the ball towards Flagg, but the Cougars deflected and took it. After a missed three-pointer, Joseph Tugler of Houston converted a put-back dunk, cutting the lead to one point with 20 seconds remaining.
A missed free throw and a loose ball foul — albeit a questionable call — on Flagg put Houston’s J’Wan Roberts at a line, where he made both free throws. The Cougars had completed a 7-0 run in 14 seconds to take the lead.
The onus was now on Duke to respond. 17.2 seconds showed on the clock after head coach Jon Scheyer called a timeout in the front court to set up a play.
It was time for the Blue Devils to show their improvement and finally execute in the clutch. One basket would erase the entire collapse of the previous 20 seconds and give them a shot at a national title on Monday night.
But it wasn’t to be. Scheyer once again called Flagg’s number with the game on the line. And while he got off a shot this time- a contested fallaway jumper from just inside the free-throw line- it never had a chance. From the moment it left his hand, the shot was short.
The Cougars rebounded the miss and were able to bleed precious seconds off the clock before star guard L.J. Cryer was fouled with 3.7 seconds left.
All Duke could manage was a turnaround heave at the buzzer that wasn’t close. The Cougars had stormed all the way back — and the Blue Devils had botched yet another late-game situation, this time in front of the entire nation in the Final Four.
Who’s fault, ultimately, was it?
The answer can’t be on one person in particular. Though Flagg was the one who turned the ball over in these situations, the Blue Devils wouldn’t have been in those situations if not for him. And, after all, he is only 18 years old and should currently be a senior in high school after reclassifying up a year.
Is it Scheyer’s fault? He was the one who repeatedly put the ball in the young freshman’s hands. In these situations, it may have been wise for Scheyer to draw up an actual play instead of relying solely on a one-on-one matchup to decide the game — but that’s what you do when you have a consensus National Player of the Year on your team.
The blame, instead, can be placed on just how good the Blue Devils were this season.
They rolled through a weak ACC, claiming the regular-season and conference titles. The only game that seemed to be in any real doubt was the Clemson loss. Outside of that, Duke’s average margin of victory was a staggering 23.2 ppg.
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With a clear need for improvement in pressure situations, none were presented until their season-ending loss.
In the end, the loss can’t be placed on any singular individual. A combination of a weak schedule in 2025 that led to few late-game scenarios and a team led by three freshmen who hadn’t yet been on the biggest stage—a stark reminder that in the age of NIL and an influx in transfer portal usage, continuity still trumps all in college basketball.
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