The Duke basketball fans in attendance at Cameron Indoor Stadium probably felt like the Blue Devils couldn’t make anything to start Friday’s game against Army, but seemingly in the blink of an eye, [autotag]Cooper Flagg[/autotag] and his team opened up a massive lead late in the first half once the shots started to fall.
Duke got off to a slower start against Maine in Monday’s season opener, only leading by 11 points at the midway mark, and it was much of the same for the first 10 minutes on Friday.
The Blue Devils made just one of their first 11 3-point attempts despite most of them coming with plenty of space. Junior guard Tyrese Proctor missed multiple shots from the corner on one possession, and sharpshooters like Kon Knueppel and Mason Gillis found iron instead of nylon on routine looks.
However, while the perimeter offense took some time to settle in, Flagg got going downhill before the end of the first half. Proctor found him for an alley-oop on a transition possession in the opening minutes, and he made two 3-pointers with another 3-point play in a five-minute span later on in the half.
Those nine points, part of Flagg’s 13 on the night, sparked a run that took all the drama out of the room. After the Black Knights remained within one point at the 14:00 mark of the first half, the Blue Devils scored 27 of the next 32 points to make it a 36-13 game with four minutes until the intermission.
Flagg finished with 11 rebounds as well, and if not for some second-half cramping (for the second straight game) that limited him to 25 minutes on the court, he could have stocked some monster numbers.
The Duke defense, like Flagg, showed up from the opening bell. The Black Knights could only score 20 points in the first half after making six of their 28 shots from the floor, including two of their 15 3-point attempts. A few breakdowns gave Army more open looks after the break, but the visitors still only finished with 58 points for the game.
True to form with a team as talented as the Blue Devils, the shooting improved as the game continued. Duke buried 16 of their final 27 3-point attempts with eight combined makes from Knueppel and Proctor. Freshman center Khaman Maluach notched his first career double-double with 11 points and 14 rebounds, and Knueppel led the team in scoring for the second straight game with 15.
Duke shot 67.7% from the floor for the second half, and six different players scored at least 10 points for the second straight game en route to the 100-58 final margin
The Blue Devils now get the weekend to prepare for the Kentucky Wildcats. That ranked matchup takes place in Atlanta on Tuesday night.