The Houston Cougars pulled off a shocking upset Saturday evening, beating the Duke Blue Devils 70-67 outright as 4.5-point underdogs. Houston ended the game on a 9-0 run and was down as many as 14 points in the second half. Earlier in the day, the Florida Gators (-2.5) beat the Auburn Tigers 79-73, led by 34 points from Walter Clayton Jr.
Despite Houston's heroics after trailing by seven against Duke with 1:26 left, Florida opened as a 1.5-point favorite at BetMGM in Monday's national championship game with a total of 141.