Cooper Flagg rewrote the Duke basketball record back with 42 points, the most ever by a Blue Devils freshman, in a big win over Notre Dame.
Every time the Cameron Crazies blinked on Saturday afternoon, [autotag]Cooper Flagg[/autotag]’s point total went up.
The 18-year-old forward made mincemeat of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish during an 86-78 Blue Devils victory at Cameron Indoor Stadium. He hit from 3-point range, buried turnaround jumpers, and dropped contested layups off the glass en route to a 42-point performance, the most ever by an ACC freshman.
The Blue Devils entered Saturday’s game riding a nine-game win streak with six consecutive victories by more than 20 points, and Duke looked ready to pick up right where it left off. After closing Tuesday’s win against the Pittsburgh Panthers on an 18-0 run, the Blue Devils notched the first 14 points of Saturday’s game thanks to some electric shooting.
Flagg and [autotag]Kon Knueppel[/autotag] linked up for a pick-and-roll play in the opening seconds, but instead of attacking the rim himself, Flagg tossed up a lob to seven-footer [autotag]Khaman Maluach[/autotag] for an alley-oop dunk. Duke knocked down four consecutive 3-pointers minutes later, including two from Flagg himself, as the Irish looked completely outmatched.
Flagg made just 25.0% of his 3-pointers before the holiday break, but he made five of his eight looks against Virginia Tech, SMU, and Pitt. He connected on a third triple just seven minutes into Saturday’s contest, part of a half that featured 15 points and five assists from the first-year superstar.
It looked like the Blue Devils were headed for a seventh blowout in a row, but Notre Dame chipped and chipped away at the advantage over the final six minutes of the half. Markus Burton, the reigning ACC Rookie of the Year, knocked down a few tough jumpers in his third game back from injury, but the coach’s son provided the real spark for the Irish.
Braeden Shrewsberry made both of his 3-point attempts before the break, and he nearly made a third in the closing seconds. After a blocked effort from Tyrese Proctor, Shrewsberry weaved his way down the court and slid to an awkward stop right along the arc. He got the ball up in the air a half-second before the backboard tinted red, and the shot found its mark for two additional points.
The Blue Devils led by 16 with 3:31 left to play in the first, but a 12-4 Irish run made it a 44-36 game at the break. Notre Dame made eight of its 12 3-pointers in the frame, and Shrewsberry knocked down another in the first minute of the second to make it a seven-point contest.
Another Burton three and a Tae Davis bucket pushed the lead to six with 16:43 to play, and the Irish had outscored Duke 46-38 since the opening flurry. But as he’s done over and over again this season, Flagg tossed a cape around his shoulders in the second half.
Flagg found his mark from 3-point range again, his fourth of the game, to answer those two Notre Dame baskets, and he barreled his way into the paint for a one-handed slam a minute later to push the lead back to 13.
He scored 12 straight points for the Blue Devils over a four-minute spell, and a short floater helped him break the 30-point barrier for the first time with 11 minutes left on the board. A pair of Knueppel free-throws broke up that streak, but Flagg shouldered his way toward the rim for two more contested buckets right afterward.
When the second one kissed the glass and dropped through the net with 7:36 on the clock, he officially broke the school freshman record with 36 points. And he still added six more before the end of the day.
He found Maluach inside twice more in the first 10 minutes of the second period, part of his seven assists for the game as he boosted the offense in ways unseen even to him over the first two months. Add on six rebounds, and he came within arm’s length of his first collegiate triple-double.
Flagg’s scorched-earth stretch engineered a 27-15 run for the home team, and when Flagg reset that program record, the Blue Devils led by 17. A late 13-point blitz from Notre Dame sliced the advantage to five in the final minute, but the road team never held the ball within one score before the clock expired.
Duke, now 14-2 for the season with 10 straight wins, will host Miami on Tuesday for the final game of a three-part home stand.
