Duke star Cooper Flagg was unable to lead the No. 1-seeded Blue Devils to the national championship game after the No. 1-seeded Houston Cougars mounted a comeback to win 70-67 in their Final Four clash on Saturday. Flagg tallied 27 points, seven rebounds and four assists in presumably his last game in college basketball.
There was an iconic moment during the game when announcers Ian Eagle and Bill Rafferty were awed by Flagg's spin move to score a difficult layup in the first half.
"Look who got it. It's Cooper Flagg at full mast!" Ian Eagle said.
"Willie Mosconi spin on the release!" Bill Rafferty said.
How Houston schemed for Cooper Flagg
Cooper Flagg added to his Rookie of the Year and ACC Player of the Year Awards by winning the John R. Wooden Award on Saturday before the Duke Blue Devils clashed against the Houston Cougars.
He is only the fourth freshman to win the award and the first since former Duke star Zion Williamson in 2019 but the Houston Cougars defended him well for most of the night in the Final Four. During his postgame news conference, Houston coach Kelvin Sampson revealed that instead of focusing on Flagg, the Cougars defended his Duke sidekicks, Tyrese Proctor and Kon Knueppel.
"We were really focused on those other guys," Sampson said (per 247Sports). "We did a great job of not allowing Proctor to turn the corner and get in the paint off pin-downs. He's so good at that. We stayed down on every shot fake that he had. ... We did a great job on all the other guys. Knueppel, he made some tough 3s. Cooper Flagg, Cooper was not going to beat us by himself."
After the Cougars had taken the lead during a fast and furious last three minutes Flagg was given the chance to give the Blue Devils the lead back with 17.2 seconds remaining but his contested jumper fell short. During his postgame news conference, the talented star revealed that the final play was drawn for him by coach Jon Scheyer.
"It's the play Coach drew up," Flagg said. "Took it into the paint. Thought I got my feet set, rose up. Left it short, obviously. A shot I'm willing to live with in the scenario. I went up on the rim, trust the work that I've put in."
Despite finishing his college basketball career in disappointing fashion, Cooper Flagg has been projected as the No. 1 pick of the 2025 NBA Draft, per ESPN's latest mock draft.
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