Houston’s suffocating defense wiped away a 14-point deficit over the final eight minutes and erased Cooper Flagg and Duke’s title hopes Saturday in a 70-67 stunner over the Blue Devils at the Final Four.

Inside the searing silence of the Duke locker room, the echo of a door slamming shut intermittently rippled through. Every time a player or staff member ducked into the adjacent coaches locker room, the bang of the door reverberated like a siren in a still night.