Historic stopper: Mark pope Kentucky turns the bar upsidedown against Cooper Flagg” as they grind out something out fo nothing” flag had his way with UK basketball. Until the Cats made it possible for him” with see details…
With all due respect to Kentucky’s ultimately victorious cast of college basketball veterans and the young stars on Duke’s roster, one player was the main attraction at this year’s Champions Classic at Atlanta’s State Farm Arena: Cooper Flagg, a sensational freshman for Duke, made an alley-oop on the Blue Devils’ opening play of the game and was off after that.
Whether it was bullying Kentucky players in the paint, asserting his 6-foot-9 frame on the glass or showcasing his tantalizing offensive versatility, Flagg — still only 17 years old — displayed why he’s widely projected to be the top pick in next summer’s NBA draft.
Flagg’s final stat line? A game-high 26 points and 12 rebounds for his second-career double-double (in only three college games) along with 2 assists, 2 blocks and 7-for-9 shooting from the foul line. That Flagg overcame a tough shooting night from distance — he made just 1 of 5 3-pointers attempted — was an even bigger indication that the freshman knows how to affect the game when shots aren’t falling.
But it was another part of Flagg’s stat line — a Duke team-high 3 turnovers — that will stick in the minds of Duke and Kentucky fans alike. Twice in the final 15 seconds of Kentucky’s 77-72 win, Flagg turned the ball over.
The game was tied at 72 when the first occurred with 12 seconds remaining. Head coach Jon Scheyer of Duke had dialed Flagg’s number during his last timeout. After assessing his defender, Andrew Carr of the United Kingdom, Flagg drove left and dug his way into the paint after the ball was in-bounded to him.
When Flagg arrived, Otega Oweh’s swift hands greeted him. Taking advantage of Flagg’s sloppy dribble, the junior from Kentucky, who moved from Oklahoma this offseason, swiped the ball and broke away in transition. Oweh scored the game-winning points from the foul line after getting fouled en route to the rim.
Flagg’s second crunch-time turnover came with five seconds left, and Duke trailing by two. With 10.3 seconds left, the Blue Devils had to go the length of the floor with no timeouts following Oweh’s two made free throws. The ball, again, found its way to Flagg, who took the inbounds pass near midcourt and drove toward the left side of the basket. There, he was confronted by UK center Amari Williams.
Well before Flagg ever made it to the painted area, he was stopped by Williams’s deft footwork and agile hands. The nation’s top-ranked recruit stumbled over and touched the ball while out of bounds after the ball became tangled in Flagg’s legs in a somewhat comical manner.
Kentucky won the game seconds later from the foul line, thereby ending Duke’s chances of winning.
“Well, Flagg has the ball in his hands. (Kentucky) was aware of that as well, and I don’t mind,” Scheyer stated. We will spend a lot of time together in these periods, and I believe Flagg’s intuition. To be honest, I probably could have positioned him more favorably.
Flagg, who experienced cramping issues in Duke’s first two games against Army and Maine, did not have any of these side effects on Tuesday. After sitting out the most of the first half’s last seven minutes owing to foul problems, he may have been rejuvenated after playing the entire 20 minutes of the second half.
“He’s got to touch it and trust that good things are going to happen,” Scheyer said of Flagg in late-game situations. “I wish you could say that every time it’s going to work out, and that’s not reality. … Again, I want him to touch it down the stretch.”
“Coach trusted me to go and make a play, like he said it didn’t work out,” Flagg added. “I’m glad he had that trust in me to put the ball in my hands. 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.”
Cooper Flagg certainly did look the part on Tuesday night. However, the Wildcats shut down Flagg twice in the closing seconds to earn Mark Pope’s first significant victory as Kentucky’s coach.
UK BASKETBALL TURNED THINGS AROUND IN SECOND HALF AGAINST DUKE Kentucky
forced only seven Duke turnovers during Tuesday’s game, and the Cats got just one takeaway in the first half. But in modern day college basketball, experience pays and experience plays.
In the second half, Duke committed six turnovers, which allowed Kentucky to score nine points. Together with a significant improvement in both scoring and interior defense, Kentucky was able to reduce Duke’s nine-point halftime lead.
“Their experience came out in that second half, no question,” Scheyer said postgame of UK. For Flagg, plenty of major college basketball moments are still to come. The 17-year-old is averaging 19 points and 10 rebounds per game in his nascent college career. Things will be just fine for Flagg, and probably for the Blue Devils as a group.
The main focus of Tuesday night’s lessons will be Kentucky, and more especially, how Pope’s squad defeated one of its fiercest rivals with a gritted, come-from-behind fight.
For all the flash — and substance — that came with Flagg’s performance, the late-game turnovers will be what’s remembered. What also shouldn’t be forgotten is the way Kentucky forced them to occur. “We really just want to go out there and do the things we know we can do, stay solid, stay to our principles,” Oweh, one of the heroes of this UK win, said. “If we do that, we know we’re going to get a win, which was the outcome.”
