Duke basketball narrowly hangs within the top 10 of the USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll

The Duke Blue Devils (barely) stayed within the top 10 of the USA TODAY Sports Men’s College Basketball Coaches Poll.

Despite suffering their first loss of the season on Tuesday, the Duke Blue Devils grabbed the last spot within the top 10 of the USA TODAY Sports men’s basketball coaches poll on Monday.

Head coach [autotag]Jon Scheyer[/autotag] and his team obliterated Wofford at Cameron Indoor Stadium over the weekend, but the performance won’t be enough to erase lingering doubts created by the midweek defeat. The Kentucky Wildcats outscored Duke 24-11 over the final 10 minutes to steal a 77-72 win, and superstar freshman [autotag]Cooper Flagg[/autotag] turned the ball over twice on the last two possessions after scoring 26 points.

If Scheyer and the Blue Devils want a chance to erase that memory from all the voters, however, they’ll have chances over the next week. Duke’s next two opponents both sit within the top 20 with Arizona at No. 17 and the Kansas Jayhawks still in the top spot.

Check out the complete results of this week’s coaches poll below:

Rank Team Record Points
1 Kansas 4-0 665 (21)
2 UConn 3-0 632 (3)
3 Auburn 3-0 608 (2)
4 Gonzaga 3-0 599 (1)
5 Iowa State 2-0 516
6 Purdue 4-0 513
7 Houston 2-1 470
7 Alabama 3-1 470
9 Tennessee 4-0 462
10 Duke 3-1 421
11 Kentucky 3-0 381
12 North Carolina 2-1 377
13 Creighton 4-0 348
14 Marquette 4-0 319
15 Baylor 3-1 313
16 Cincinnati 3-0 229
17 Arizona 2-1 228
18 Indiana 3-0 208
19 Florida 4-0 168
20 Illinois 3-0 133
21 St. John’s 4-0 119
22 Texas Tech 3-0 95
23 Texas A&M 3-1 94
24 Arkansas 2-1 82
25 Wisconsin 4-0 75

Dropped Out

No. 22 Ohio State; No. 24 Rutgers

Receiving Votes

Rutgers 56; Xavier 43; Ole Miss 39; BYU 28; Saint Mary’s 18; Pittsburgh 18; Texas 14; Michigan State 9; Mississippi State 5; Oregon 4; Nevada 4; Ohio State 3; Dayton 3; Wake Forest 2; VCU 2; UCF 2

Latest AP Poll reveals much about Kentucky’s bowl chances

Kentucky football remains unranked in the AP poll, and needs two more wins to be bowl eligible.

Kentucky Football is staring down a significant battle for a bowl game following — especially considering the most recent AP Poll.

Nobody should be shocked that Kentucky football wasn’t ranked in week 13’s poll. The Wildcats haven’t been ranked all season, and sit at 4-6 on the year after Saturday’s 48-6 win over Murray State.

The real question surrounds bowl eligibility. With two games left this year, Kentucky has to win out to make a bowl game. For the Wildcats, this might be an uphill battle as they’re set to face off against two tough opponents over these final two weeks.

This upcoming Saturday, November 23, marks a matchup for the Wildcats in Austin. Kentucky is set to travel to DKR-Texas Memorial Stadium for a matchup against the third-ranked Texas Longhorns.

Related: Seven SEC teams ranked in latest Coaches Poll

Texas is a national title contender, sitting at 9-1. Their only loss came earlier this year against the eighth-ranked Georgia Bulldogs.

They’ll follow up that tough matchup with a rivalry week game in Lexington. The Wildcats are set to host Louisville in Lexington on Saturday, November 30.

Although unranked following a 38-25 heartbreaker to Stanford over the weekend, Louisville is still an upper-class college football team. They were ranked l9th last week prior to the loss, and still received fifteen top-25 votes in week 13’s poll.

With Kentucky needing to win out against the two, the Wildcats might need a miracle to make a bowl game this year.

Duke basketball drops two spots to fifth in KenPom rankings after Kentucky loss

After Tuesday night’s loss to the Kentucky Wildcats, the Duke Blue Devils dropped down two spots in the KenPom rankings.

The Duke Blue Devils suffered their first loss of the season on Tuesday night, dropping a 77-72 game to the Kentucky Wildcats after getting outscored 24-11 over the final 10 minutes.

As a result, head coach [autotag]Jon Scheyer[/autotag] and his team slipped down two spots to fifth in the KenPom adjusted efficiency rankings on Wednesday mornings.

The Blue Devils began the year second in the rankings (which contrast adjusted points scored versus adjusted points allowed per 100 possessions) thanks to freshman stars like [autotag]Cooper Flagg[/autotag]. The 17-year-old phenom turned the ball over twice in the final 15 seconds against the Wildcats, but he scored 12 of Duke’s last 14 points to keep them afloat to begin with.

“I trust his instincts,” Scheyer said after the game. “I probably could have put him in a better position, to be honest, but he’s got to touch it and trust that good things are going to happen.”

The Auburn Tigers jumped Duke over the weekend thanks to their win over Houston, and the Gonzaga Bulldogs and Connecticut Huskies shuffled above the Blue Devils on Wednesday. Arizona, Duke’s next ranked opponent, sits one spot below them in sixth.

Kentucky lept up 10 spots to 20th after the stunning upset.

Duke basketball coach Jon Scheyer still wants the ball in Cooper Flagg’s hands at the end

Despite his two late turnovers on Tuesday night against Kentucky, Duke basketball star Cooper Flagg still has Jon Scheyer’s full confidence.

[autotag]Cooper Flagg[/autotag] scored 26 points against the Kentucky Wildcats on Tuesday night, 12 more than any other member of the Duke Blue Devils, but the lasting memory from his performance came in the final 15 seconds.

Flagg turned the ball over twice on Duke’s last two possessions, letting the ball get swatted away from behind on one before losing control of his dribble and going out of bounds on the next. The ensuing Kentucky possessions created the five-point margin of defeat.

Despite the miscues, head coach [autotag]Jon Scheyer[/autotag] didn’t sound particularly interested in reexamining his end-of-game strategy afterward.

“I trust his instincts,” Scheyer said of his star freshman. “I probably could have put him in a better position, to be honest, but he’s got to touch it and trust that good things are going to happen.”

The third-year coach also fairly pointed out that Flagg’s prior success was the only reason the Blue Devils had a chance to begin with. The forward scored 12 of Duke’s last 14 points, routinely making go-ahead or game-tying plays in the previous minutes.

“I wish you could say that every time, it’s going to work out,” Scheyer continued. “That’s not reality.”

Flagg, for his part, sounded like he appreciated the vote of confidence from his coach, regardless of the result.

“I’m glad he had that trust in me to put the ball in my hands,” Flagg said. “And I’m looking for it in that moment. It didn’t work out, but I’m still going to look for it no matter what.”

Flagg and the Blue Devils return home for a Saturday game against Wofford.

Jon Scheyer calls the Duke basketball cramp problem ‘concerning’ after Kentucky loss

For the third time in three games on Tuesday night, a Duke basketball freshman left the game with cramps in the second half.

The Duke men’s basketball team lost to the Kentucky Wildcats on Tuesday night, a second-half collapse that saw the Blue Devils get outscored 24-11 over the final 10 minutes.

Freshman center [autotag]Khaman Maluach[/autotag]’s absence played a big role in the late-game swing. The 7-foot-2 star finished with 10 points and seven rebounds, but he spent a large chunk of the second half on the bench as he dealt with cramps.

With Maluach needing to leave the game, cramps become an alarming trend for the first-year Blue Devils. Star forward [autotag]Cooper Flagg[/autotag] exited the first two games against Maine and Army with the same problem, and head coach Jon Scheyer sounded well aware of the connection after the game.

“Yeah, I mean, look, it’s concerning,” Scheyer said. “I think part of it is we have young bodies…Again, we’re not trying to just dip our toes in the water, we need Cooper to play a lot. And Khaman.”

“That’s something we’ve got to take a hard look at,” he concluded.

The Blue Devils host Wofford at Cameron Indoor Stadium on Saturday, but the following two games come against Arizona on the road and Kansas at a neutral site. So the faster any potential problems get solved, the better.

The best photos from Tuesday’s Duke basketball game against the Kentucky Wildcats

Check out the best photos from the Duke basketball game against Kentucky on Tuesday night.

The Duke Blue Devils lost for the first time in the 2024-25 season on Tuesday night, giving up a nine-point halftime lead to the Kentucky Wildcats in Atlanta.

Superstar forward [autotag]Cooper Flagg[/autotag] turned the ball over twice in the last 13 seconds, two critical mistakes in the 77-72 loss, but the 17-year-old still scored 12 of the Blue Devils’ last 14 points to finish with a game-high 26.

The real mistakes came from behind the 3-point line as the Blue Devils made just four of their 22 attempts from distance. Outside of Flagg, Duke went 0/8 from the floor and 2/4 from the free-throw line in the final 10 minutes, letting the Wildcats outscore them 24-11 in that span.

Check out the best photos from the third Duke basketball game of the season.

Outside of Cooper Flagg, Duke scored two points in the last 10 minutes against Kentucky

The Duke Blue Devils scored 14 points over the final 10:50 against Kentucky on Tuesday, and 12 of them came from one player.

Duke basketball fans likely left State Farm Arena or turned off their televisions in shock on Tuesday night when the Blue Devils lost to the Kentucky Wildcats.

Duke led their fellow blue blood by nine points at halftime, but after scoring 61 points in the first 30 minutes, the Blue Devils only managed 11 points over the closing stretch.

Superstar freshman [autotag]Cooper Flagg[/autotag] drew lots of the visible blame for his two turnovers in the final 15 seconds, turning a tie game into a 77-72 loss, but the 6-foot-9 forward actually kept the game within striking distance by himself during the last 11 minutes.

With 10:51 left in the second half, Purdue transfer Mason Gillis picked up a loose ball and made a short floater to give the 58-53 advantage. It was the last shot made from the floor by someone other than Flagg.

Even ignoring Kon Knueppel’s last-second heave at the buzzer, the Blue Devils missed their final seven shots and two of their last four free throws. Knueppel and Tyrese Proctor, after teaming up for 22 points in the first half, combined for just four in the second.

Flagg, who ended the night with 26 points, put 12 of the team’s last 14 points on the board.

How many points did Cooper Flagg score against the Kentucky Wildcats?

Here’s how Duke freshman phenom Cooper Flagg performed against the Kentucky Wildcats.

Basketball fans won’t remember the late baskets [autotag]Cooper Flagg[/autotag] made against the Kentucky Wildcats on Tuesday night.

The 17-year-old superstar kept the Blue Devils afloat for the second half, tacking on 12 of their final 14 points to lead Duke in scoring for the first time this season. After all of that production and some heroic blocks and buckets to halt the Kentucky charge, however, he turned the ball over twice in the final 15 seconds to help the Wildcats pull off a stunning upset.

With three more ranked matchups on the schedule in the next three weeks, Flagg and his teammates will have chances to erase that memory in the near future, but the Blue Devils let one get away in Atlanta on Tuesday.

Here’s a quick recap of Flagg’s productive night, late turnovers aside.

Cooper Flagg points scored vs. Kentucky:

Despite the late mistakes, Flagg finished with a game-high 26 points. He was the only Blue Devil to make a shot from the floor in the final 10:50, and he paced the team with 12 rebounds. He rounded out his night with two assists and two blocks.

Did Duke win?

The Blue Devils lost, 77-72, despite leading by nine points at halftime. Kentucky held the Duke offense to 26 points over the final 20 minutes.

Cooper Flagg’s next game:

The Duke Blue Devils will return to the court at Cameron Indoor Stadium on Saturday against Wofford, their final tune-up before a road game against Arizona and a neutral-site game against Kansas.

Late Cooper Flagg turnovers cost Duke basketball in second-half collapse against Kentucky

Cooper Flagg tried his best to keep Duke alive against Kentucky, but two costly mistakes in the final seconds cemented the 77-72 loss.

[autotag]Cooper Flagg[/autotag] made several heroic plays for the Duke Blue Devils during his 26-point outing against the Kentucky Wildcats on Tuesday night, but two late turnovers handed the SEC program a 77-72 victory in a monster second-half comeback.

The Blue Devils led by nine points at the break, but it was actually the Wildcats who came out of the gates on fire. Kentucky ripped off an 18-9 run in the first six minutes thanks to 3-pointers from veteran transfers Andrew Carr, Kerr Kriisa, and Ansley Almonor on three consecutive possessions.

Both teams entered Tuesday’s game shooting better than 40% from 3-point range, but the Wildcats made five of their first seven looks from distance while Duke managed to make just one of their first five.

Despite the shooting imbalance, however, the Blue Devils kept pace, and they eventually found other ways to score as their lead began to bloom.

Flagg, [autotag]Tyrese Proctor[/autotag], and [autotag]Kon Knueppel[/autotag] handed command of the offense back and forth in the opening 20 minutes. Proctor, the returning junior, notched seven of the team’s first 11 points in a variety of ways. He challenged the Kentucky interior with a drive before lofting a high floater off the top of the glass, he found the net on a contested mid-range jumper, and he opened up space for himself on the perimeter with a pump fake before draining a triple. All three of those bucks came in a two-minute stretch.

Flagg stepped up next, and between the 15:10 and 7:32 marks in the first half, he scored 10 of Duke’s 17 points thanks to a quartet of free throws.

Knueppel, who actually missed his first three shots from the floor, grabbed the baton from his fellow freshman phenom and took over from there. Kentucky’s Otega Oweh tried and failed to steal a pass on the perimeter, leaving Knueppel open for a 3-point look, and the Wisconsin native punished the Wildcats in kind to make it a 33-26 game.

Knueppel notched seven of Duke’s last 16 points in the opening frame, and that trio combined for 34 of Duke’s 46 in the first half.

The Blue Devils maintained some distance for the first part of the second half, leading by at least four points for the first 10 minutes, but the 3-point shooting remained a problem. Despite the clutch makes from Proctor and Knueppel, Duke made four of their 22 3-point attempts for the game.

The Wildcats took advantage. Sophomore forward Brandon Garrison, a former Oklahoma State Cowboy, scored six straight points before Kriisa buried a deep three to make it a 65-64 ballgame with 5:28 left on the clock.

Flagg tried multiple times to save the day in the final stretch. He hurtled out of nowhere to deflect a Garrison layup that would have given Kentucky the outright lead, and he earned two trips to the free-throw line on the ensuring offensive possession to keep the lead at three points. When Kentucky took the lead with 2:40 to play, the 17-year-old netted a contested jumper and drew another whistle to tip the score back in Duke’s favor, and he found a way to make a bouncing floater in the final minute that tied the game at 72 points apiece.

It all came unraveled in the final 15 seconds, however. With the score still tied and the ball in Duke’s hands, Flagg drifted into traffic to let Oweh swat it away from behind him. Now down two points with the clock ticking down, Flagg took the ball up the court and lost control near the baseline, putting his hand down out of bounds to give the ball back again.

Flagg was the only Blue Devil to score over the final 6:30, and he was the only Blue Devil to make a shot from the floor over the final 10:50. Proctor and Knueppel only tacked on four points after the break, and the Wildcats won the second half by 14 points.

The Blue Devils play at home against Wofford on Saturday, their last game before a road trip that includes Arizona and Kansas.

Meet Mark Pope, the Kentucky men’s basketball coach who replaced John Calipari

Mark Pope won a championship while playing for Kentucky.

College basketball fans will see someone new on the sidelines coaching the Kentucky Wildcats men’s basketball team this season.

After a decade and a half with Kentucky, former Wildcats head coach John Calipari is no longer leading the program. Now the head coach at Arkansas, the longtime face of the team brought a few of his former players to a new school in the SEC.

In his absence, former BYU head coach Mark Pope is now running the show for Kentucky.

OTHER NEW COACHES: The men’s NCAA basketball coaching carousel’s biggest moves, including John Calipari to Arkansas

Pope is originally from Washington and played college basketball for the Washington Huskies, where he was named Pac-10 Freshman of the Year in 1992.

He eventually transferred to Kentucky, where he played from 1994 until 1996. As a forward, he was team captain for the Wildcats when they won the NCAA men’s basketball championship in 1996.

Selected in the second round of the 1996 NBA Draft, he played professionally both overseas and in the NBA. After his playing career concluded, he began coaching.

Pope served as an assistant coach at Georgia, Wake Forest, and BYU before becoming head coach at Utah Valley in 2015. Pope took over as head coach for the Cougars in 2019 and was able to take the team to the March Madness tournament last season.

Now the head coach of his alma mater, fans will have high hopes for Pope’s first season. While several players left the team for the NBA or the transfer portal, he will bring former BYU top scorer Jaxson Robinson with him to the Wilcats.

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