RALEIGH — The Duke faithful at the Lenovo Center got exactly what they came to see.
In its Round of 64 game against No. 16-seed Mount St. Mary’s, Duke looked utterly dominant. The Blue Devils strung together an excellent offensive performance behind the sharpshooting of Tyrese Proctor, and the typical elite defense reared its head as the Mountaineers shot just 30.2% from the field in a 93-49 rout.
“I thought it was a workmanlike performance by our team. Anytime you only have two turnovers in a game, that's pretty good. But I just thought that these guys were incredibly mature, without necessarily even playing in the NCAA Tournament,” head coach Jon Scheyer said.
Friday marked the return of Cooper Flagg, as the star freshman played in his first contest since spraining his ankle in the ACC Tournament quarterfinals. Flagg told the media Thursday that he was 100%, and it did not seem like he was lying. The youngster finished with 14 points, seven rebounds and four assists in 22 minutes.
The Newport, Maine, native assumed his usual slot in the starting lineup and was the focal point of Duke’s very first possession, catching the ball off a short roll from Kon Knueppel and drawing a foul. A thunderous dunk with roughly 12 minutes remaining showed that the Wooden Award contender was back in full effect.
“We are prepared for him to play as many minutes as he needs to. Our guys did a great job. Even as he was coming back with his ankle, he was in the pool a lot, the underwater treadmill, just making sure his shape was still there,” Scheyer said. “And frankly, it's only been eight days. So I think for him, it's not like he's lost a ton of shape.”
The first half could not have gone much better on the offensive end for the Blue Devils. At the under-eight media timeout, Flagg, Proctor and Khaman Maluach were all still perfect from the field. On the whole, the unit shot a blistering 60.6% from the field and 7-for-15 from beyond the arc. To make matters worse for MAAC champ Mount St. Mary’s, Duke committed just one turnover in the first half — the lone giveaway didn’t come until 1:44 remained in the period.
“I thought we were great, thought we were poised, controlled the tempo of the game and just read what the defense gave us. And I think we play our best basketball when we all move the ball and get great looks,” Proctor said.
Down 24-9, Arlandus Keyes breathed some life into the small but loud Mountaineer faithful in attendance. The junior guard knocked down a contested three right in front of the Duke bench to cut the lead to 12 and ignite the loudest cheers of the day from the Mount St. Mary’s contingent.
However, the Blue Devils did not let that excitement linger long. Flagg instantly converted a contested layup on the other end, and Caleb Foster pushed forward a steal into a beautiful two-man fast break between Proctor and Flagg for two more. Keyes answered back with another tough triple, but Maluach — who seems to be finding his stroke behind the arc — canned an open trey to make it 31-15.
“I've had the same confidence in my shot … It was taking me time to find my rhythm. But when I finally saw one go in, it's just different. Now the confidence goes higher,” Maluach said on his burgeoning 3-point shot.
Right before the end of the half, the Mountaineers put together another mini-run, this time prompting head coach Jon Scheyer to use a timeout. A Javon Ervin layup off the aforementioned turnover created easy points, and Jedy Cordilia capitalized off a foul from Sion James to make it 52-28 on a dunk. It seemed as if Duke would not score again in the half, but Patrick Ngongba II grabbed an offensive rebound off a Flagg miss and finished a crafty tip shot to give the Blue Devils a 26-point lead after 20 minutes.
The second half started a bit slower offensively, but the highlights were still there. Proctor knocked down his fifth consecutive three for the first bucket of the period. Flagg also added his first triple early, but his eye-popping play came in transition. The AP All-American grabbed a one-handed defensive rebound and instantly pushed the pace, threading a bounce pass into a cutting Knueppel for a foul and ample applause from the Duke crowd. The Blue Devils went on a cold streak that ended with roughly 15 minutes remaining; a Maluach lay-in was the first make in seven shots. While Mount St. Mary’s converted on a few turnovers and found open threes, it could never bring the game closer than 24 points.
Foster and Proctor canned back-to-back 3-pointers to increase the Duke lead to 71-41, and Flagg assisted Ngongba for a dunk to prompt a timeout and effectively end the contest; an ensuing 11-0 run put the bow on top.
After a slow shooting stretch in the first two rounds of the ACC Tournament, Proctor seems to have figured it out. The Sydney native knocked down his second three in as many tries to give Duke its first double-digit lead of the game at 13-2. The Aussie finished the game with six treys and 19 total points.
With roughly 11 minutes left, Flagg, Knueppel, James and Proctor all took a seat; Scheyer would let the second unit go the rest of the way. With about five minutes to go, relentless chants for Spencer Hubbard began to shower Scheyer. The starters even clapped along with the fans to egg on their coach. At 3:44, he finally relented. When it was all said and done, eight Blue Devils took the floor for their first-ever NCAA Tournament victory.
“Special. There’s nobody I would rather do it with,” James said on his first tournament experience.
Up next, Duke will take on No. 9-seed Baylor and former guard Jeremy Roach Sunday for the right to advance to the Sweet 16.
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