ATLANTA— A 26-point road ACC victory? Not a bad gift.
That’s what Duke gave star freshman Cooper Flagg for his 18th birthday down in the Peach State, controlling the game nearly the entire way en route to its second conference win, a 82-56 mark over Georgia Tech. Flagg himself added 13 points and four rebounds to aid the effort.
“Collectively, I thought a lot of different guys stepped up and it was a great effort, so proud of our team,” head coach Jon Scheyer said postgame. “Twenty assists, second highest we've had all year, I think our offense is coming along.”
Much like its first ACC road contest, Duke seemed to get off to another slow start. The first two possessions resulted in turnovers for the Blue Devils, with Tyrese Proctor throwing an errant pass resulting in a Baye Ndongo jam on the other end to start the game.
But right before the first media stoppage, Duke (10-2, 2-0 in the ACC) began to hit its stride on both ends of the floor. Sion James, Kon Knueppel and Proctor all added buckets, but the defensive presence was really the highlight. Khaman Maluach effectively switched onto guard Naithan George repeatedly and made his life difficult, while also adding a block in the opening minutes that headed all the way to the away bench.
Perhaps most importantly for Duke fans, Knueppel — who shot 4-of-18 from deep over the past four games — knocked down two threes off of curl actions in the early going. Isaiah Evans, the current leader in 3-point percentage in the ACC heading into Saturday, added a triple of his own to push the lead to 22-11 at the under-12 timeout.
“It was probably the worst slump of my life. So it was a rough couple of games, but you try to find ways to affect the game in other ways,” Knueppel said. “I just felt like I was making a couple shots here and there, but you can't worry about them.”
Down by double digits early, Yellow Jackets head coach Damon Stoudamire elected to switch to a zone defense. The first returns were not an improvement, as Maluach and James scored on back-to-back possessions to expand the lead to 14. Knueppel added another triple of his own as the road squad continued to get good looks that forced Stoudamire back into man-to-man.
The Georgia Tech offense started creating some buzz of its own before half. Duncan Powell had a nice start to the game with 11 first-half points, and Ndongo continued to be a thorn in Duke’s side for the second straight year, scoring consecutive buckets to cut the deficit to five with one minute remaining. Knueppel could not convert a last-second three, and Duke led 41-36 heading into the locker room.
After undoubtedly some inspired words by head coach Jon Scheyer, the Blue Devils seemed to dial it back in after halftime, scoring on their first four possessions. Half of those came from Khaman Maluach, as the 7-foot-2 freshman threw down two lobs in as many minutes. Stoudamire once again went back to zone, and Duke once again punished it, with Flagg knocking down a mid-range jumper to force a timeout in order to stop a 9-0 run.
Maluach had himself a nice day as his offensive role continues to grow. The South Sudan product put on a masterclass down low, affecting nearly every shot in the paint and cleaning up the offensive glass, highlighted by a thunderous dunk off a Flagg miss to put Duke up 55-39. At the final buzzer, the freshman center went for 15 points and eight boards while not missing a field goal.
The Yellow Jackets (5-7, 0-2) attempted to go into a 1-3-1 zone for a stretch, but that also proved for naught. Duke piled on a 14-0 run to take full control of this one, as the defense swarmed the home team. With Duke up 60-44, Knueppel stole an errant pass and took it all the way for a one-hand slam, firing up the sizable Duke contingent in Atlanta and getting the visitor bench on its feet.
It was a true all-around effort from Scheyer’s group as it continued to keep the Yellow Jackets at arm's length. Every rotation player notched at least one basket, with Knueppel pacing the squad with 18. Notably, his four threes tied a season-high from the freshman, a trend Duke faithful will hope continues deeper into ACC play.
“I just thought the shot quality was a lot better, and it's probably the best that we've flowed just going from defense to offense. I thought we did a really good job. We're finding each other's strengths and understanding just how to play together,” Scheyer said.
The Blue Devils will enjoy the holidays before returning to action on New Year’s Eve at home against Virginia Tech.
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