Houston rallies to beat Duke 70-67 in the Final Four, will face Florida for the NCAA title

SAN ANTONIO (AP) — Sorry guys, “Phi Slama Jama” is already taken. How ’bout something simple, like “Comeback Kids.”

“National champs” might be a possibility, too.

Houston’s no-room-to-breathe defense wiped away a 14-point deficit over the final eight minutes, erased Cooper Flagg and Duke’s title hopes and brought the Cougars within a win of a championship of their own Saturday night with a 70-67 stunner over the Blue Devils.

Led by Joseph Tugler’s four blocks and an amoeba-like defense that smothers everything, Houston held Duke to a grand total of one field goal over the last 10 1/2 minutes. The 67 points were Duke's second-lowest output of its now-ended season.

The Blue Devils' second-to-last attempt during their contest-ending 1-for-9 stretch was a step-back jumper in the paint by Flagg that J’Wan Roberts disrupted. The last was a desperation heave by Tyrese Proctor that caught nothing at the buzzer and sent Flagg and company shuffling off in shock.

“We just had to keep that belief and keep the faith,” said L.J. Cryer, who won a title with Baylor in 2021 and led the Cougars in this one with 26 points.

This is the program's first trip to the final since 1984 — which marked the official close of the Phi Slama Jama era, a fun-and-gun dunkfest that never won the title despite the efforts of Clyde Drexler and Hakeem Olajuwon, who was at the Alamodome for this one.

Lots has changed since then. One constant: Defense wins championship.

Houston has allowed the fewest points this season and even against Duke, with Flagg, Kon Knueppel (16 points) and a roster with five or six NBA prospects, it made things impossible down the stretch.

“Got to give them a lot of credit for what they do every single night they play,” Flagg said. “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.”

It was Roberts’ two free throws with 19.6 seconds left that gave the Cougars their first lead since 6-5. Cryer made two more to push the advantage to three. That matched Houston’s biggest lead of the night.

The Cougars (35-4), who have never won a title, will play Florida on Monday night for the championship.

Florida’s 79-73 win over Auburn in the early game was a free-flowing bundle of fun. This one would’ve looked perfect on a cracked blacktop and a court with chain-link nets. Neither team cracked 40% shooting.

That’s just how Houston likes it.

It closed the game on a 9-0 run over the final 33 seconds, and though Flagg, the AP Player of the Year, 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 (35-4) up by nine.

“Knowing going into that game that he was the player of the year, that he brought his team to the Final Four, we knew it would be challenging," Roberts said.

Trailing 64-55, things looked dire for the Cougars. But they were just getting started.

A team that prides itself on getting three stops in a row — calling the third one the “kill stop” — strung together two stretches like that, broken up only by Flagg's 3.

Duke settled for a measly three free throws over the final 3 minutes. One came when Tugler got a technical for batting the ball from Sion James' hands as he was trying to throw an inbounds pass.

That didn't make things any better for the Blue Devils.

On the possession following the technical, Tugler rejected Knueppel, then Emanuel Sharp (16 points) made a 3 to cut the deficit to three.

Mylik Wilson stole the next inbounds pass and missed a game-tying 3, but Tugler tipped it in to cut the deficit to one.

Proctor missed the front end of a 1-and-1 with 20 seconds left to set the stage for the Roberts free throws.

Duke’s slow walk off the court came through a phalanx of Houston fans who waved goodbye to Flagg, who will likely be off to the NBA as the first pick in the draft.

Houston held Duke to 37.5% shooting in the second half; that was nearly 20% lower than its first four games of the tournament, which included a blowout over the nation's best offense, Alabama, in the Elite Eight.

“We held that team to 67 points,” Houston coach Kelvin Sampson said, marveling at what his team had done.

The Cougars finished with six steals and six blocked shots, and a bunch more altered by Roberts and Tugler, who might be the best shot blockers to wear that Cougars uniform since Olajuwon himself.

There are no stats, however, for the heart Houston showed after the country's best player had all but buried them with 8 minutes to go.

“Cooper was not going to beat us by himself,” Sampson said. “Even when we were down 14, these guys will tell you what I was talking about in the huddle was, ‘Just hang in there, hang in there.'"

The huge comeback also netted a $1 million win for artificial intelligence. An AI disruptor bet a professional gambler that his program could do a better March Madness bracket, and it all came down to the Duke-Houston game.

Even if the Houston loses in the final, the AI bracket will get more points in the contest and the disruptor, Alan Levy, will pocket the million bucks.

AP March Madness bracket: https://apnews.com/hub/ncaa-mens-bracket and coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/march-madness. Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here.

Duke's Cooper Flagg (2) shoots as Houston's Joseph Tugler (11) defends during the second half in the national semifinals at the Final Four of the NCAA college basketball tournament, Saturday, April 5, 2025, in San Antonio. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

Houston's Emanuel Sharp (21) goes up for a shot against Duke during the second half in the national semifinals at the Final Four of the NCAA college basketball tournament, Saturday, April 5, 2025, in San Antonio. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

Duke's Khaman Maluach (9) and a teammate leave the court after Houston beat Duke in the national semifinals at the Final Four of the NCAA college basketball tournament, Saturday, April 5, 2025, in San Antonio. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

Duke's Tyrese Proctor (5) loses the ball as Houston's Joseph Tugler (11) defends during the second half in the national semifinals at the Final Four of the NCAA college basketball tournament, Saturday, April 5, 2025, in San Antonio. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

Duke's Cooper Flagg (2) reacts after being called for a foul against Houston during the second half in the national semifinals at the Final Four of the NCAA college basketball tournament, Saturday, April 5, 2025, in San Antonio. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

Duke forward Cooper Flagg reacts against the Houston during the second half in the national semifinals at the Final Four of the NCAA college basketball tournament, Saturday, April 5, 2025, in San Antonio. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)

Houston's J'Wan Roberts (13) celebrates against Duke during the second half in the national semifinals at the Final Four of the NCAA college basketball tournament, Saturday, April 5, 2025, in San Antonio. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

Duke's Cooper Flagg (2) misses a shot as Houston's J'Wan Roberts (13) defends during the second half in the national semifinals at the Final Four of the NCAA college basketball tournament, Saturday, April 5, 2025, in San Antonio. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

Duke forward Cooper Flagg walks off the court after their loss against the Houston in the national semifinals at the Final Four of the NCAA college basketball tournament, Saturday, April 5, 2025, in San Antonio. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)

Houston's L.J. Cryer (4) celebrates with teammates after Houston beat Duke in the national semifinals at the Final Four of the NCAA college basketball tournament, Saturday, April 5, 2025, in San Antonio. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

BAD SCHANDAU, Germany (AP) — Germany's reputation for efficiency is taking a hit from crumbling concrete. Cracks and collapses are also a risk to its economy, Europe's biggest.

The European Union's most populous member is trying to turn around a problem with worn-out infrastructure — including about 4,000 bridges that need modernizing or replacing over the next decade. All too frequently, unexpected scares about the state of bridges cause short-notice closures that bring local gridlock. Occasionally, it is worse than that.

In Dresden, a bridge dating back to 1971 partially collapsed in the middle of the night in September due to corrosion. No one was hurt, but the collapse snarled traffic and temporarily blocked shipping on the Elbe River. The remains of the Carola bridge have yet to be removed.

The collapse prompted checks on similarly designed bridges — including one in Bad Schandau, a small town further up the Elbe near the Czech border. It was shut abruptly to all traffic in November as a precaution, leaving locals with a 20-kilometer (12 1/2-mile) trip to the nearest road crossing until it reopened on Thursday — albeit with a 7.5-ton weight limit.

“The closure of this bridge was an absolute catastrophe for people in Bad Schandau,” said Steffen Marx, a civil engineering professor who led ultimately successful stress tests on the bridge. “It's the classic gridlock ... this is the only crossing along nearly 50 kilometers (30 miles) of river.”

Even as the situation eases in Bad Schandau, Berliners are steaming over the abrupt closure last month of a bridge on a busy highway after a widening crack was detected. It will now be demolished quickly. The outage snarled traffic in a large section of the capital, forced the weeks-long closure of a commuter railway line and prompted the government to cough up 150 million euros ($164 million) for its urgent rebuilding.

“The Germans are very good engineers. You would think that everything works,” said Monika Schnitzer, the head of an independent panel of economic advisers to the government. “At the same time, the Germans are also very good at saving — and they saved for a very long time particularly on this infrastructure, on bridges.”

Germany's prospective new government has moved to address the issue before it even takes office. Last month, the would-be coalition under conservative leader Friedrich Merz pushed through parliament a 500 billion-euro ($551 billion) fund, financed by borrowing, to pour money into creaking infrastructure over the next 12 years. Politicians see that as part of efforts to restore the stagnant economy to growth.

It's not just bridges: There are also decrepit schools, and a national railway has begun thorough but disruptive overhauls of major routes after years of underinvestment. Complaints about frequent delays and breakdowns on the railway have become a national sport.

The coalition agreement presented Wednesday states that “functioning infrastructure is the foundation for our country's prosperity, social cohesion and sustainability. So Germany needs an infrastructure booster — that applies to hospitals and schools as well as bridges and railways.”

On the roads, it promises that money will be provided “to resolve the renovation backlog on bridges and tunnels in particular.”

The outgoing government says a large number of bridges were already modernized under a program under way since 2022. But much remains to be done.

“Now that there's money, a growth spurt could actually be generated very quickly,” Schnitzer said. “But what is really necessary for this is that the money is spent quickly. And for that, we need much faster planning and approval procedures than we had so far.”

She noted that Germany has proven it can speed up its planning bureaucracy, notably in building its first liquefied natural gas terminals within months after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and subsequently cut off pipeline gas supplies to Germany.

Outgoing government spokesperson Steffen Hebestreit pointed this week to the availability of construction companies and machines as a hurdle to quick bridge repairs and said Germany is “at its capacity limit.”

Marx said the situation of Germany's infrastructure is “quite critical.”

“It isn’t so much because we don’t invest enough — that’s one reason,” he said. “But from my point of view, the main reason is that we don’t take enough care of things. That we just don’t maintain infrastructure and we do far too little cleaning, repairing, strengthening, all things we do in our private buildings.”

He added that the huge new infrastructure fund is necessary, but he's concerned the money will be put only into demolishing and rebuilding the worst bridges rather than ensuring that others never get into that state.

“You can't win political points with maintenance and preservation — it's boring and not really spectacular,” Marx said. “But it becomes spectacular when you neglect it.”

Geir Moulson in Berlin contributed to this report.

Passers-by and cars cross the Elbe bridge in Bad Schandau to mark the opening to traffic, in Dresden, Germany, Thursday April 10, 2025. (Sebastian Kahnert/dpa via AP)

Cars cross the Elbe bridge in Bad Schandau to mark the opening to traffic, in Dresden, Germany, Thursday April 10, 2025. (Sebastian Kahnert/dpa via AP)

A traffic engineering vehicle crosses the Elbe bridge in Bad Schandau to mark the opening to traffic, in Dresden, Germany, Thursday April 10, 2025. (Sebastian Kahnert/dpa via AP)

Cars parked next to the closed Elbe bridge a few days before its inauguration, in Bad Schandau, Germany, Friday March 28, 2025. (Sebastian Kahnert/dpa via AP)

Weights are placed at the foot of the closed Elbe bridge as part of a load test, during a the three-day load test intended to show that the Elbe crossing can be reopened to traffic, in Bad Schandau, Germany, Tuesday April 1, 2025. (Sebastian Kahnert/dpa via AP)

FILE - Parts of the Carola Bridge over the Elbe is seen collapsed in Dresden, eastern Germany, Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2024. (Robert Michael/dpa via AP, File)

FILE - Experts stand in front of an excavator on the partially collapsed Carola Bridge on the Neustadt side during works, in Dresden, Germany, Thursday Jan. 30, 2025. (Robert Michael/dpa via AP, File)

FILE - Parts of the Carola Bridge over the Elbe have collapsed in Dresden, Germany, Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2024. (Robert Michael/dpa via AP, File)

A heavy-duty module loaded with weights drives over the closed Elbe bridge as part of a three-day load test intended to show that the Elbe crossing can be reopened to traffic, in Bad Schandau, Germany, Tuesday April 1, 2025. (Sebastian Kahnert/dpa via AP)