Cooper Flagg celebrates after hitting a 3-pointer in Duke’s 106-70 win over Stanford on Saturday in Durham, North Carolina. Ben McKeown/Associated Press
Coming off of their first setback in months, Cooper Flagg and the Duke men’s basketball team returned to form last week.
Flagg, a Newport native, led the No. 3 Blue Devils to a pair of blowout victories, the first a 78-57 victory over California and the second a 106-70 thumping of Stanford.
Duke is now 22-3 with a 14-1 record in the Atlantic Coast Conference. The Blue Devils have a pair of games this week against ACC foe Virginia and Illinois of the Big Ten.
Last week
Duke, and Flagg, had little trouble putting a disappointing loss at Clemson behind them. First up were the Golden Bears, and Flagg scored a team-high 27 points — two coming on a highlight-reel reverse dunk —to go with five rebounds and three steals.
“(Against Clemson), I thought we didn’t have our same pop and our same energy that we usually have,” Flagg said. “I felt like we gave them too much credit by sagging off some guys and not impacting the ball enough. (Tonight we were) trying to have more energy, have more impact, and force them into things that we wanted them to take, and not letting them get the shots they wanted.”
Flagg then guided Duke to an emphatic win over Stanford, scoring 19 points with five rebounds and six assists.
“I thought it was just a good example of Duke basketball for us,” he said. “Coming out and playing to our standards, doing what we do, and letting the ball flow and playing through the right option, the right man.”
The week ahead
Monday
Opponent: at Virginia
Time: 8 p.m.
TV: ESPN
Noteworthy: The Cavaliers have slumped after a run that included berths in nine of the last 10 NCAA tournaments, as well as the 2019 national championship. Virginia is 13-12 (6-8 ACC), though it has won four of its last five games and five of its last seven after a five-game losing streak.
Isaac McKneely (13.7 points per game) and Elijah Saunders (11.1) are the leading scorers for Virginia.
Saturday
Opponent: vs. Illinois
Time: 8 p.m.
TV: FOX
Noteworthy: The Fighting Illini are 17-9 but only 5-6 over their last 11 games. Illinois has made the last four NCAA tournaments.
Kasparas Jakucionis (16 points per game) leads Illinois in scoring, while Tomislav Ivisic (12.7), Will Riley (11.9) and Kylan Boswell (11.1) join him in double figures.
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