Cooper Flagg sparks second-half comeback over Pack

Still undefeated in conference play

Remember a week or so ago when the narrative was “Duke needs to be tested in close games?” Don’t want to be like 1991 UNLV and not have any pressure going into the NCAAs.

I guess we can forget about that. Two close games, two Duke wins, Monday’s a 74-64 come-from-behind win over NC State, a game much closer than the final score suggests.

NC State was always going to be a tougher opponent than the standings suggested. State beat Duke twice last season in high-consequence games and several key players returned. No intimidation factor here. State has five losses this season by four or more points and Duke was their best chance for a high-profile win to turn around their season.

That still doesn’t explain what we saw Monday night in Cameron. A team that had struggled from beyond the arc for much of the season shot the three-ball like Golden State in their Golden Era.

Dontrez Styles with two 3-pointers in the first four minutes. Then Trey Parker, then Jayden Taylor, then Taylor again and it was 23-11 before the midpoint of the first half and Duke was pushing the boulder up the hill.

Kon Knueppel did much of the pushing, three 3-pointers in the opening half.

But Duke still trailed 35-22 when they finally started to get some stops. Sion James went coast-to-coast off a defensive rebound for a layup, assisted Tyrese Proctor and got a 3-point play off an offensive rebound to end the first half scoring.

Duke still trailed, 37-33. Closing the half on an 11-2 run gave the Blue Devils some momentum going into the locker room.

But Duke had to get Cooper Flagg going. State went after him and he did not respond well to their physicality. He had five points at the half.

Jon Scheyer was not pleased. He thought Flagg was playing soft. “He didn’t have the same pop in the first half.”

Flagg agreed.

“I was very soft in the first half. I felt like that led to most of our first-half troubles.”

Scheyer didn’t absolve himself. Duke played a tough game at Wake Forest Saturday and he thought his team needed to rest.

“We couldn’t do anything physical yesterday so I thought we weren’t ready for the game that it was going to be. That’s on me. I have to prepare them better and get them more ready.”

Flagg played the second half with the proverbial chip on his shoulder.

“Finally, at halftime, he just got angry,” Scheyer said.

It took Duke a little over three minutes into the second half to take a 39-37 lead, a Knueppel layup, a Flagg jumper and a Knueppel jumper. State missed their first nine shots in the second half, as Duke took a 47-39 lead, a 25-4 Duke run spanning both halves.

The anticipated blow-out never occurred. Duke was awful from beyond the arc—4 for 20—and State kept coming back.

Flagg made perhaps the game’s biggest play, a four-point play that extended Duke’s lead from 51-50 to 55-50, with 9:06 left.

Then it got strange. Khaman Maluach barfed all over the floor. Scheyer said Maluach had drunk too much water in an attempt to stay hydrated. But he left the game and never returned.

And no, I had no idea there were that many towels in Cameron.

The game again was halted when a Crazy needed medical attention. Word is that she’s okay.

Then Knueppel helped Tyrese Proctor secure a defensive rebound when he grabbed Proctor’s right leg to keep him from going out of bounds.

Seen the first two before. The third? Don't think so.

Duke finally put away the Pack in the final 4:21. Up 63-62, Flagg converted two foul shots, the teams traded turnovers, State missed a bunch of shots, Duke made a bunch of foul shots, Flagg made a nifty layup and an equally nifty layup to Patrick Ngongba and it ended with Duke’s only double-digit lead of the game.

Flagg finished with 28 points, 23 after intermission. He added seven rebounds, three assists, a steal and a block.

Lesson learned?

“I have to be aggressive at all times and be in attack mode.”

Knueppel added 19 points, James 13. Maluach only had four points but his eight rebounds led Duke to a 42-27 advantage on the boards. Duke made 24 of 28 from the line, Flagg going 11 of 13.

Styles led State with 18 points. After that blazing start, the Pack ended up 10 for 22 on 3-pointers.

Maybe it was a regression to the mean. But Scheyer argued that his defense had something to do with that.

“The defense, to me, told the story. Twenty-seven second-half points. We went zone again. I didn’t expect that but obviously that was a big thing for us again tonight.”

So, 10-0 in ACC play, 18-2 overall, 14 straight with you-know-who coming to town Saturday.

And no one is worrying about a shortage of close games.