Cooper Flagg stars as Duke basketball stifles Caleb Love, Arizona in top-25 road win

Duke basketball rebounded from its loss to Kentucky with a resounding effort on the road at Arizona.

In a physical and poised performance, the 12th-ranked Blue Devils stifled the 17th-ranked Wildcats with impressive defense and dominant rebounding to earn a 69-55 win at the McKale Center.

Freshman standouts Cooper Flagg (24 points) and Kon Knueppel (13 points) led Duke (4-1) in scoring against Arizona (2-2) to help the Blue Devils earn their first road win against a top-25 nonconference opponent since 2019 at Michigan State in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge.

Excluding the ACC/Big Ten Challenge, the Blue Devils snapped a nearly 24-year drought, winning on another team’s home court in a top-25 nonconference game for the first time since beating No. 17 Temple in 2000.

Duke went on to win the national championship that season, beating Arizona in the 2001 title game. Prior to Friday night, that was the last time the Devils beat the Wildcats.

Here are observations from Duke’s latest win against Arizona.

Cooper Flagg stats for Duke basketball vs Arizona

In the first true road game of his Duke career, freshman Cooper Flagg was the closer at Arizona. Every time the Wildcats attempted to push the Blue Devils in the second half, Flagg responded with a timely bucket, rebound or assist. He scored 16 of his 24 points after halftime, rounding out his impressive stat line with five rebounds and three assists. Knueppel aided that effort with 11 points in the second half.

Maliq Brown, Sion James, Kon Knueppel help Duke limit Arizona’s offensive rebounding

Arizona entered Friday’s game leading the nation in offensive rebounds per game at 21.7. The Blue Devils didn’t allow the Wildcats to sniff that number, limiting them to one offensive board and two second-chance points in the first half. Veteran transfers Maliq Brown and Sion James , along with freshman Kon Knueppel, did most of the dirty work on the defensive glass, combining for 16 defensive boards. Duke was plus-8 in the rebounding margin…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/cooper-flagg-stars-duke-basketball-053804277.html

Author : The Fayetteville Observer

Publish date : 2024-11-23 05:38:00

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