A rugged defense or a wrong official call—whichever way you put it, it ends with Duke losing to the Houston Cougars. Cooper Flagg’s performance with 27 points was on display but wasn’t enough to power his team to the finals. The projected number 1 pick of the 2025 NBA draft had the opportunity to help his team out. But the freshman forward missed it. However, it seems the Maine native feels it was another moment responsible for the loss.

“Just communication. I mean, I think me and Sion (James) messed up a switch got to get the ball in bounds, you know. Find whatever we had to do, just find a way to get the ball in bounds. Um, but yeah, I think that was a big messed up communication play between me and Sion that led to a big three,” said Flagg. It was when Houston got a defensive stop, and Emanuel Sharp hit a three to make the score 67-64 with 32 seconds left. The inbounding woes from the Blue Devils continued. Tyrese Proctor was fouled and sent to the free-throw line and eventually missed.

During the same play, Cooper Flagg is called for the foul on the rebound attempt, which Houston’s J’Wan Roberts converted from the charity strip. Later, Cooper Flagg got the opportunity to become the hero once again! But he missed his midrange jumper with eight seconds left that would have given Duke a 69-68 lead in the closing moments. Before talking about the communication blunder with teammate James, the freshman spoke about his missed opportunity.

“I mean, this the play coached you up. Took it into the paint, uh thought I got my feet set, rose up um left it short, obviously.” A distraught Flagg spoke to the media after the Final Four loss. “But I mean it’s a shot I’m willing to live with in the in the scenario. Pulling up on the rim, um, trust the work that I put in.”

Despite the loss, Flagg delivered a stunning performance. The freshman phenom poured in 27 points, grabbed seven rebounds, and added four assists, three blocks, and two steals.

Kelvin Sampson’s defensive shackles limit Cooper Flagg’s influence

The entire game had the same story. Every time Duke tried to establish its dominance, Houston would find ways to cut it down. In the first half, with 10 minutes 17 seconds to play, the Blue Devils had a strong hold of 18-9. But Kelvin Sampson’s team went on a 6-0 run. Later, with close to 2 minutes remaining, it was 31-19, favoring Jon Scheyer’s men. The Cougars delivered three shots from beyond the arc to end the first half with only a 6-point disadvantage (34-28).

The same situation continued in the second half; Duke established a 14-point lead with just 8 minutes and 17 seconds left on the clock. But a 10-0 run from Houston cut it down to just 4 points. Then began the full court press, which stifled the Blue Devils and their attack. Kelvin Sampson coached his defense to the tee, as they held Duke to a grand total of one field goal over the last 10 1/2 minutes.

Even Cooper Flagg had to tip his hat to Houston and their defense. “We could have been a little bit more sharp down the stretch executing some things. At the end of the day, you got to give them a lot of credit, as well.” This was Duke’s first Final Four appearance since Coach K’s retirement. As for Houston, they now have the chance to chase their first-ever national title on Monday night.