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Jay Williams Delivers Strong Take On Duke’s Final Four Meltdown vs Houston

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Michael Curran | Last updated Apr 6, 2025 1:23 AM ET

The Duke Blue Devils lost in remarkable fashion on Saturday night, blowing a double-digit second-half lead and allowing Houston to close the game on an 11-1 run. Former Duke star and current ESPN basketball analyst Jay Williams appeared on SportsCenter shortly after the loss and provided his take on what went wrong for the Blue Devils and the magnitude of the loss.

"This is probably the worst Duke loss that I think they've had in a long time," he said.

Duke led by as many as 14 points and looked like the better team for much of the game. But the Blue Devils were never able to put Houston away and the Cougars mounted a comeback in the final seconds.

Jon Scheyer's young team crumbled down the stretch, hitting only one shot from the floor in the final ten and a half minutes.

"Game pressure is a real thing," Williams said. "This [is the] first time you felt like you were watching a young Duke team finish in a young way down the stretch. Those are daily habits that veterans do."

“Duke didn’t give the game away, Houston took the game."@RealJayWilliams debriefs Duke's loss in the Final Four. pic.twitter.com/rZpMebliVc
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) April 6, 2025

Duke was up by seven points with 1:15 remaining. With 34 seconds left, the Blue Devils were still up six. A three-pointer from Emanuel Sharp cut that lead in half, but then Sion James turned the ball over trying to inbound it. A put-back dunk from Joseph Tugler cut the lead to one with 25 seconds left.

In less than 10 seconds of the game clock, Houston had scored five points and pulled within one. Things only got worse as Tyrese Proctor missed the front end of a one-and-one and Cooper Flagg was called for a foul on the rebound. Houston's J'Wan Roberts nailed both of his attempts at the charity stripe to give the Cougars the lead for good.

"Those small details down the stretch you didn't see Duke do," Williams said. "Duke didn't give the game away, Houston took the game. I'm not going to take credit away from Houston, but Duke definitely played a significant part in that."

While Duke heads home and Flagg's college career likely comes to a close, Houston will stay in San Antonio for a couple of extra nights before facing Florida in the national championship game on Monday.

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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