SAN ANTONIO (WNCN) — Cooper Flagg may be the newly-minted AP Player of the Year and John R. Wooden Award winner, but Duke men’s basketball still has work to do as a team if they want an even bigger prize — the 2025 NCAA championship
The No. 1 Blue Devils (35-3) and No. 1 Houston Cougars (34-4) will face off in the second Final Four game Saturday night. Tipoff at the Alamodome in San Antonio was originally set for 8:49 p.m. ET but was moved back to 9:28 p.m. ET.
Duke and Houston are meeting for the second straight NCAA Tournament. Last year in a South Region Sweet 16 game, the fourth-seeded Blue Devils knocked out the top-seeded Cougars in a low-scoring 54-51 defensive affair.
That Duke team did not yet have freshman Flagg, who was named the Wooden Award winner earlier Saturday, one day after being named the AP Player of the Year. In the Blue Devils’ 85-65 rout of Alabama last weekend’s Elite 8, Flagg had 16 points and nine rebounds. But he wasn’t the leading scorer on the night, as Duke’s balanced attack was led by fellow freshman Kon Knueppel’s 21 points followed by Tyrese Proctor’s 17.
The Cougars’ vaunted defense will look to stop some of that offense. Houston has held opponents to 38.2% shooting from the field this season, which is significantly lower than the nearly 50% Duke is averaging. In their 69-50 win in the Elite 8 over Tennessee, the Cougars held the Volunteers to just 15 points in the first half and 28.8% shooting for the game. On the offensive end, guards L.J. Cryer and Emanuel Sharp led Houston with 17 points and 16 points, respectively.
The winner of Saturday night’s game will move on to play the Florida Gators — who outlasted No. 1 overall seed Auburn 79-73 in the first Final Four game — for the national championship on Monday night.