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Sports Illustrated
Sports Illustrated
Kristen Wong

Duke’s Cooper Flagg Looked So Sad Leaving Final Four Loss on Golf Cart

Duke Blue Devils forward Cooper Flagg (2) reacts after losing to the Houston Cougars in the semifinals of the men's Final Four of the 2025 NCAA Tournament at the Alamodome. | Robert Deutsch-Imagn Images

Cooper Flagg will likely finish his college hoops career without an NCAA championship.

The Duke standout freshman stole the spotlight in Saturday's 70-67 loss to Houston in the national semifinal of the men's NCAA tournament, finishing with a team-high 27 points along with seven rebounds and four assists.

But Flagg, who was on the unfortunate side of a late-game call and missed a potential game-winning shot, ended up walking away with the most bitter loss of his young career following the Cougars' odds-defying comeback. Flagg is expected to be the No. 1 pick in the 2025 NBA draft and will leave Duke this summer after coming tantalizingly close of breaking the program's 10-year national title drought.

The 18-year-old was seen riding a golf cart with teammate Kon Knueppel in the Alamodome following Duke's Final Four defeat and had a sad and blank expression on his face:

Keep your head up, kid.


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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Duke’s Cooper Flagg Looked So Sad Leaving Final Four Loss on Golf Cart.

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