When a team has a star player, the game plan most opponents go with is to let the other guys beat you.
It’s been a long time since a team had a star like Cooper Flagg. The freshman led Duke in every major statistical category this season, from scoring to steals, assists to blocks. Clearly, he’s the man to stop on this team. As Cooper goes, so go the Blue Devils.
Flagg stopped himself a week ago, in the ACC Tournament, going down in the first half of the first game with a sprained ankle. Without the ACC Player of the Year, Duke needed someone else to step up.
That weekend gave future Duke opponents another valuable piece of information for their scouting reports: Don’t let Kon Knueppel beat you.
The freshman hit five of his first 11 three-point attempts in the ACC tourney, scoring 63 points in the three games, to go with 17 rebounds, 14 assists and five steals. He earned ACC Tournament MVP, leading Duke to the crown.
In the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament, Knueppel was more subdued. He hit 1-of-4 on threes in the first game and had just 18 points in the two games, combined. Plus, while Flagg seemed recovered from his ankle problem, he was poked in the eye early in Duke’s second NCAA game and struggled with early foul trouble.
The lesson here, going forward: Don’t let Tyrese Proctor beat you. The junior guard has been on a historic tear. He hit six three-pointers in the ACC championship game against Louisville, scoring 19 points. Then he went 6-of-8 from three in the NCAA opener against Mount St. Mary’s, scoring another 19. With Flagg missing time against Baylor, Proctor hit 7-of-8 from three—the most treys by a Blue Devil in March since 2010 and a school NCAA Tournament record for accuracy from three. All told, Proctor has hit 19 of his last 30 three-point attempts and scored 63 points in three games.
“It makes us a different team,” said center Khaman Maluach—someone else opponents probably shouldn’t let beat them. “Like now, it’s unguardable, when Tyrese gets going, along with Kon and everybody else.”
The win over Baylor shows just how tough Duke is to contain. The Blue Devils used a 12-0 run in the first half to take control of the game. Two points and 57 seconds into the run, Flagg picked up his second foul of the first half and went to the bench. Proctor hit a three and another basket. Knueppel had an assist. Maluach had a rebound and two points.
Then there are all the other guys—the ones you have to let beat you: Patrick Ngongba had a block, assist and two rebounds. Sion James had an offensive rebound and a steal, They combined to score three points.
By the time the dust had cleared, Duke, who trailed at the start of the run, was up by 10 points and Flagg was back in the game, because Knueppel was now in foul trouble.
But the Blue Devils weren’t done.
“We came into a time out and Mason (Gillis) brought us all together,” said James. “He said, ‘We can go one of two ways. They can go on a run and make it a two-point game, or we can blow it open and make it a 20-point game.’ So we just doubled down on getting stops.”
In the final 100 seconds of the first half, Duke got points from James, Ngongba and Caleb Foster, as well as a Flagg dunk. The 10-point lead grew to 17 at the break, and Duke won by 23.
“I would say its’ the competitive edge of our group,” Flagg said. “We have 14 guys that sub in and will give 100%, do everything they can to help us win. So you’ve got new guys coming in fresh. … It’s just that competitive edge, competitive nature of our team.”
Proctor hit all four of his three-pointers and all five of his shot attempts after halftime.
“Tyrese is such a weapon for us,” said Flagg. “We have a ton of guys like that, who can be a weapon on offense for us. … We have so many weapons on this team. So if somebody gets hot like that, or somebody has it going, we’re going to run our plays (for him). Tonight, Tyrese had it going. We’re going to try to find him, get him open.”
And more often than not, teams are going to have to let someone on the Blue Devils beat them.
