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In a stunning turn of events on Saturday night, Duke basketball saw a 14-point second half lead quickly evaporate in the Final Four against Houston. Before it could blink, Duke found itself trailing with just seconds to go and the Cougars were the ones headed to the national title game.
Duke had many shortcomings in the final 10 minutes that led to this loss. The offense went completely cold, making just one field goal in the final 10 and a half minutes. The defense faltered, giving Houston multiple 3-pointers to help close the gap. Duke missed late free throws and struggled to get the ball inbounds against Houston's press in the last few minutes.
Individually, Cooper Flagg couldn't come up with the big shot despite having an incredible game. Guards Sion James and Tyrese Proctor both made critical mistakes. But perhaps nobody had a more disappointing night overall than freshman big man Khaman Maluach, who had one of his worst showings in his first, and likely only, season at Duke.
The 7-foot-2 Maluach struggled with foul trouble throughout the second half, causing him to be benched for Maliq Brown for much of the closing stretch. When he was on the floor, the projected lottery pick didn't have the same impact that fans are used to seeing from him.
Incredibly, Maluach didn't grab a single rebound in 21 minutes against a team whose tallest player is just 6-foot-8. Houston's physicality seemed to bother him all night long and the Cougars took advantage, outscoring Duke by 20 points when he was on the floor.
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Maluach also only got off two field goal attempts in this game and failed to be the same elite lob threat that he had been throughout the season and the NCAA Tournament. He finished the game with six points thanks to four free throws and a dunk, but Duke basketball desperately missed his ability to stretch the defense vertically with his size and explosiveness.
The South Sudan native could also have been impacted by the news earlier on Saturday that Secretary of State Marco Rubio is revoking all visas for South Sudanese passport holders.
There are plenty of factors that played into this Duke loss, but Maluach playing far below his standard really hurt the Blue Devils in what ended up being one of the most shocking losses in the history of the NCAA Tournament.
Maluach is now very likely headed off to the NBA, where he projects as one of the safest bets in the top 10 due to his raw tools and ability to play both ends of the floor. However, after this game, there could be some teams that will second guess themselves when it comes to the 18-year-old.
