This week, The Blue Zone will be counting down the top five Duke basketball individual performances of the year. After Seth Curry's Sweet 16 performance against Michigan State, we have Quinn Cook's game against Louisville in the Battle 4 Atlantis final.
The game: Duke 76, Louisville 71 on November 24
The player: Quinn Cook
The stat line: 15 points—including Duke's final eight—, 6 assists and 4 rebounds.
The headline: QUINN-SANITY
The story: Quinn Cook was instrumental in the then-No. 5 Blue Devil’s 76-71 victory over the then-No. 2 Louisville to give Duke its 23rd consecutive regular-season tournament game victory, dating back to the 2006 CBE classic. The game marked Cook’s fourth career start after earning his way into the starting lineup in the Florida Gulf Coast game four games prior.
The Blue Devils had the lead for most of the game, trailing for only a total of 1:20, but found themselves behind 59-58 with 8:18 left to play.
Cook came to the rescue for Duke in the last eight minutes, sinking a three-pointer to give the Blue Devils the lead with 7:48 to play. Cook subbed in and out with junior Tyler Thornton in the final four minutes, Cook coming in on offense and Thornton on defense. With 1:14 remaining in the game and with Duke up by just two, Cook converted on a crucial layup. Ryan Kelly then committed his fifth foul and was forced to the bench, but Cardinal forward Chane Behanan was able to convert only one-of-two from the charity stripe, bringing Louisville to within three of Duke. The next time down the floor, after using up a good portion of the shot clock, Cook hit a jumper to make it a two-possession game with just 29 seconds remaining. After a basket the Cardinals were forced to foul. Cook stepped up to the line like a veteran in such a pressure situation and sank both shots.
After collecting just two points on 1-of-3 shooting in the first half, Cook came out with the pedal to the medal in the second half, including the final eight points of the game for Duke.
For his stellar performance in the tournament, the sophomore earned himself Most Valuable Player of the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament after averaging 13.7 points, 6.3 assists, 3.3 rebounds and 2.0 steals per game in the Blue Devils’ three victories. Cook shot 4-of-8 from behind the arc and 91.7 percent from the free-throw line on the tournament.
The quote: "Respect is not something you can give. It's earned," Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said. "I think since the Georgia State game, Quinn has earned the respect of everyone. What he did in the Kentucky game, everyone talks about a kid getting confidence. It's when a team has confidence in its point guard that you take off. This team has great confidence in Quinn and he has earned it."
Previously:
No. 5: Rasheed Sulaimon vs. Creighton
No. 4: Mason Plumlee vs. Ohio State
No. 3: Seth Curry vs. Michigan State
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