BOSTON— The drizzle outside was no match for Cooper Flagg. As he made shots rain down in Conte Forum, No. 3 Duke men’s basketball stormed to a 88-63 conference victory on the road against Boston College.
Flagg’s dunk near the end of the first half quieted the chants of “overrated” rippling through the stadium, but he emerged from the locker room ready to silence them. After backing down a defender in the post and then sinking a layup on his next possession, a flagrant-1 allowed the freshman to add two from the charity stripe. Those efforts put the Blue Devils ahead 47-36 — their largest lead yet.
Flagg soon notched a steal after double-teaming Chad Venning, then made a quick backwards bounce pass to Kon Knueppel. Though the 3-point attempt dinked off the rim, Sion James battled through traffic on the next possession score a layup. He made it worth three with a successful shot from the foul line.
A pass to Flagg — who capitalized with another dunk — brought the Blue Devil faithful to their feet with a roar. The Newport, Maine, sensation finished with 28 points on the evening, his second-highest total of the season.
“It’s easy to not believe in yourself, or think you can’t do it,” Flagg said. “I just want to keep proving that doesn’t really matter where you’re from. That as long as you just stick to it, keep working, you can make anything happen.”
Khaman Maluach encountered more difficulty as the second half began, picking up his fourth foul shortly after returning to the court. As Patrick Ngongba II took the floor, a subsequent free throw on the and-one gave Venning his 14th point of the night. The senior forward led the Eagles’ offense with 19 points, but it wasn’t enough to keep his team in competition.
Duke (16-2, 8-0 in the ACC) began to find defensive rhythm as Isaiah Evans grabbed his second 3-pointer. The Blue Devils embarked on a 12-0 run, forcing a frustrated team of Eagles to watch as 10 minutes ticked away on the second-half clock. When Hand finally made a trey to break the slump, Boston College (9-9, 1-6) had only nine points on the half. Duke had established a 65-46 stiffarm.
“It’s easy to talk about the scoring. For me, it’s the blocks, the rebounds, the timing of baskets,” said head coach Jon Scheyer. “Our connectivity was so much better. Our intention to protect the paint was really good. And because of that, we got separation.”
Durham’s squad grew its distance in the final eight minutes, with the help of two additional 3-pointers from Evans and one from Flagg. The Blue Devils’ first-half struggles faded from mind as they skipped to a 25-point lead.
The fire evident in Duke’s 88-63 victory took time to kindle. Boston College capitalized on early opportunities around the basket, sprinting to a 13-9 lead at a 60% field-goal clip. The Eagles avoided the perimeter nearly altogether, opting to sink shot after shot in the post while the Blue Devils struggled from behind the arc.
“Give Boston College credit for really scoring in our paint and making us work,” Scheyer said. “I’m proud of our team for stepping up, especially in the second.”
When Ngongba eventually broke Duke’s early scoring drought with a layup, the team trailed by five. A sigh rippled through the sea of Blue Devil fans as he missed two consecutive free throws. It was James who sparked the rescue, assisting Maluach on a dunk and netting a layup to begin a 7-0 Duke run. After Maluach dunked again and Tyrese Proctor swished a deep three, the Blue Devils found themselves ahead 22-20.
After a layup from the Eagles’ Venning tied up the score, Flagg sank four from the charity stripe in quick succession. Another trey from Proctor gave the Blue Devils a 29-25 lead — the most breathing room they’d had since tipoff.
Duke found first-half strength at the foul line, shooting 81.8% to Boston College’s 44.4%. Flagg’s perfect 7-for-7 in free throws to start the game made up for early shooting woes.
Evans netted a deep three with 1:52 remaining to put the Blue Devils up 38-30, and the Blue Devil crowd thundered when Flagg capped off his half with a dunk. Things still looked tight as Duke headed into the locker room with only a 40-34 lead, but a strong second half erased all doubts.
The Blue Devils will have the week off before taking on a hot Wake Forest squad Saturday at 4:30 p.m.