Durant's 3-pointer in final seconds gives Rockets 100-97 win over the Suns

HOUSTON (AP) — Kevin Durant scored 26 points and his 3-pointer with 1.1 seconds to go lifted the Houston Rockets to a 100-97 win over the Phoenix Suns on Monday night.

The game was tied when Durant drained the 27-footer to give the Rockets the victory over his former team. Durant joined the Rockets from Phoenix this summer in a blockbuster trade that sent Dillon Brooks and Jalen Green to the Suns.

Devin Booker's 3-point attempt bounced off the rim after Durant gave Houston the lead to end it.

The Suns had a chance to take the lead before Durant’s game winner, but Booker’s 3-point attempt was off. Phoenix got the rebound, but the shot clock expired, giving Houston the ball with 5.1 seconds to go.

Amen Thompson and Jabari Smith Jr. added 17 points each to help Houston to its fifth win in six games.

Booker scored 27 points and Brooks had 15 for the Suns, whose two-game winning streak ended.

The Rockets led by seven with less than five minutes left before the Suns used a 10-0 run, with eight points from Booker, to take a 97-94 lead with about 2 1/2 minutes to go.

Smith made a free throw with six minutes remaining, but the Rockets hadn’t scored a field goal in almost 4 1/2 minutes when a three-point play by Thompson tied it with under two minutes remaining.

Houston’s Alperen Sengun sat out after spraining his right ankle Saturday and coach Ime Udoka said the big man is expected to miss 10 to 14 days with the injury.

The game was briefly delayed in the second quarter because of a malfunction of the clocks and scoreboard before play resumed without either working and the public address announcer periodically announcing the time on the game clock and shot clock.

The clock and scoreboard began working with about four minutes left in the first half, and the shot clocks were restored for the start of the third quarter.

Suns: Visit Memphis on Wednesday.

Rockets: Play consecutive games at Portland on Wednesday and Friday.

AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/NBA

Play continues with the shot clock not working during the first half of an NBA basketball game between the Phoenix Suns and Houston Rockets Monday, Jan. 5, 2026, in Houston. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

Phoenix Suns' Jordan Goodwin, left, reaches to knock the ball away from Houston Rockets' Jabari Smith Jr. during the first half of an NBA basketball game Monday, Jan. 5, 2026, in Houston. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

Houston Rockets' Tari Eason (17) knocks the ball away from Phoenix Suns' Devin Booker during the first half of an NBA basketball game Monday, Jan. 5, 2026, in Houston. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

Phoenix Suns' Dillon Brooks, center, goes up for a shot as Houston Rockets' Jabari Smith Jr. (10) and Tari Eason (17) defend during the first half of an NBA basketball game Monday, Jan. 5, 2026, in Houston. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

Houston Rockets' Kevin Durant (7) celebrates with Amen Thompson (1) after making a game-winning 3-point basket against the Phoenix Suns during the second half of an NBA basketball game Monday, Jan. 5, 2026, in Houston. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Tarris Reed Jr. sat at his locker Thursday, fielding questions about his run as the interior-scoring, rebound-snagging force in UConn's latest Final Four push.

Yet he wasn't the main attraction.

That's because across the room, an even bigger gaggle of reporters waited for freshman guard Braylon Mullins — the Indiana kid who hit an all-timer of a shot to send the Huskies back to the sport's biggest stage — to return for his own round of interviews.

“Guards are the ones that hit the big shots,” Reed said Thursday when asked about big men getting their due, adding with a grin: “We just do our job, we do the dirty work — and we're used to doing it our whole life so we have fun doing it.”

Maybe so, but there's no minimalizing the impact of size this week in Indianapolis. Not with the Final Four boasting its biggest quartet of teams going back roughly two decades, starting with guys such as Reed, Michigan's Aday Mara, Arizona's Koa Peat and Illinois' 7-foot Ivisic twins as anchors to lineups with size radiating all the way out to the perimeter.

The average height of the Final Four teams is nearly 79.1 inches, or roughly 6 feet 6, according to KenPom’s analytics site. That edges last year’s average of nearly 78.3 inches for the biggest of any Final Four going back to the start of KenPom’s data in 2007.

Illinois (28-8) is Division I's tallest team with an average roster height of nearly 6-7 (80 inches), while Arizona (36-2) is seventh at nearly 6-6 (79 inches). Michigan (35-3) and UConn (33-5) are in the top 30 nationally with nearly identical averages slightly behind the Wildcats.

Consider it a sign of the premium each team put on building a roster to overwhelm teams inside, on the glass and with game-altering length spanning the gaps between.

That kind of size, strength and wingspan creates trouble cascading through the matchups. ACC Network analyst Luke Hancock said teams are also thriving by finding power forwards and centers capable of stepping outside to stretch defenses further and create space, eliminating the ability for a defense to simply collapse on a lone big man.

“Guards still win in March,” said Hancock, the most outstanding player of the 2013 Final Four in Louisville’s later-vacated title run. "But I think these guys have become almost like a necessary component. If you want to win championships, you need a big 4 and a monster 5.”

And it's manifesting in several ways as March Madness reaches its final act.

The Illini have had the best defensive tournament efficiency of the Final Four teams while dominating the glass to complete those stops. Their roster includes an influx of European talent, including Tomislav (7-1) and Zvonimir Ivisic (7-2), as well as 6-9 forward David Mirkovic from Montenegro.

The Illini also brings 6-9, 235-pound graduate Ben Humrichous off the bench, while the outlier in the big lineup is 6-2 senior guard Kylan Boswell as a strong backcourt defender.

The South Region champion has allowed .976 points per possession in the NCAA Tournament to lead the remaining four teams. Throw in the fact that Illinois is outrebounding opponents by 16.3 per game, and it's been a perfectly timed boost to an already elite offense with those forwards and centers capable of hitting from behind the arc, too.

"Playing in the summer, you could tell it’s a little bit harder to do some things just because you’ve got Z at the rim, who’s 7-foot-2 and a great shot blocker," 6-6 forward Jake Davis said. “You got Tommy down there. So anybody you’re going up against in practice is super tall. ... We’ve just got a bunch of length everywhere. And you could tell early on that we could cause problems for other teams.”

The Illini will be tested against Reed, a 6-foot-11, 265-pound senior whose scoring (21.8) and rebounding (13.5) averages in the tournament are the best of any player still standing.

That included opening the tournament with a video game-type stat line of 31 points and 27 rebounds against Furman, making him the first player with 30-plus points and 25-plus rebounds in an NCAA Tournament game since Houston’s Elvin Hayes did it twice in 1968.

He’s coming off a 26-point showing in the comeback from 19 down to stun Duke in the Elite Eight.

“He’s a monster,” said UConn senior Alex Karaban, who was part of the Huskies’ 2023 and 2024 title winners. “He’s been so dominant. He’s really playing like the most dominant player in college basketball right now.”

When it comes to the No. 1 seeds, the Wolverines have hummed with 90-plus points in four tournament wins. The Wildcats have been right behind in offensive efficiency despite being shooting fewer 3-pointers than just about every other Division I team all season.

Their meeting Saturday matches strengths.

Michigan has used the 7-3, 255-pound Mara to protect the paint, flanked by a pair of versatile 6-9 forwards in Associated Press first-team All-American Yaxel Lendeborg (240 pounds) and Morez Johnson Jr. (250).

“Our size definitely makes it tougher for smaller guards,” Lendeborg said. “Because we’re so versatile ... we can switch and guard point guards, make their life a little harder. And you know, we’re all strong bodies too. So we try to wear down teams.

“And then, toward the end of the game, that’s when we usually make our runs when we need it.”

Michigan will be tested against the Wildcats with 7-2 center Motiejus Krivas (10.4 points, 8.2 rebounds) and Peat, a 6-8, 235-pound freshman considered a strong NBA prospect.

“If you don't have the big to defend other bigs, you can't compete at this level in my opinion,” Hancock said.

“How do you make it so you're really tough to guard and you have an advantage? It’s the 4-men in this Final Four who are just so talented and the diversity of their skill sets — they can do so many things. That is the ultimate to me.”

AP March Madness bracket: https://apnews.com/hub/ncaa-mens-bracket and coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/march-madness

Arizona forward Koa Peat (10) dunks during the second half in the Elite Eight of the NCAA college basketball tournament against Purdue, Saturday, March 28, 2026, in San Jose, Calif. (AP Photo/Kelley L Cox)

Iowa's Tavion Banks (6) has his shot blocked by Illinois' Zvonimir Ivisic (44) during the first half of an Elite Eight game in the NCAA college basketball tournament Saturday, March 28, 2026, in Houston. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

UConn forward Tarris Reed Jr. (5) reacts after the team's win against Duke in the Elite Eight of the NCAA college basketball tournament, Sunday, March 29, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)