Duke Head Coach Jon Scheyer Says Collapse Against Houston ‘Hard to Process’

Houston’s win over Duke in the Final Four was a comeback for the ages.

Duke Blue Devils head coach Jon Scheyer reacts after a play against the Houston Cougars. | Bob Donnan-Imagn Images

The Duke Blue Devils lost in the Final Four to the Houston Cougars in an absolutely heartbreaking fashion on Saturday night.

Despite holding a six-point lead with less than a minute to play, Duke couldn’t close out the win, with the Cougars riding a few big defensive stops, even bigger shots, and one somewhat questionable foul call to steal a spot in the championship.

After the game, Duke head coach Jon Scheyer, understandably, struggled to put the ending of the game into words.

“It’s hard to process still. I thought our guys did an incredible job the whole game. I thought we had some good looks. Didn’t finish,” Scheyer said. “You have to give Houston a ton of credit. It’s still, even with that, we had the lead with under a minute to go. I couldn’t be more proud. I’m not about to hang our head. This is part of it. You’ve got to handle the wins, and you’ve got to handle the losses too. In a moment like this, we were this close. We thought we were the best team. The best team tonight was Houston. Hats off to them.”

"This is part of it. You've got handle the wins, and you've got to handle the losses too."

Jon Scheyer joins @tracywolfson after the loss to Houston. pic.twitter.com/K2UJLAGFhB

— CBS Sports (@CBSSports) April 6, 2025

“It’s been a magical ride. We believed with everything we had that we were going to win a championship here.”

Through the first two weeks of the tournament, most of the college basketball world would have agreed—Duke looked like a championship team. Instead, Houston and Florida will compete on Monday for the right to be called champions.

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