Duke basketball (21-3, 13-1 ACC) won 78-57 at home against California (12-13, 5-9 ACC) after suffering its first ACC and road loss of the season last Saturday at Clemson. The Blue Devils returned to form and appeared to have taken the setback to an unranked club personally.
Here are the top three takeaways from the Blue Devils’ 21st win of the season.
Cooper Flagg continues to cement his case as the #1 NBA Draft selection.
The Duke freshman phenom tallied double figure scoring for the 14th straight game as Flagg finished the win versus California with a game-high 27 points to go along with five rebounds, three assists, and three steals. Flagg also threw down a ferocious reverse slam dunk in the second half off of a steal for one his flashiest throwdowns of the season. The dunk put the Blue Devils up 26 points and served as the unofficial dagger to end the contest. There hasn’t been too much debate about who should be the #1 overall pick in this year’s upcoming NBA Draft, but Flagg continues to separate himself from the bunch with consistent play.
Flagg now averages 19.8 points and 7.6 rebounds while shooting 48.3% from the field. He’s also 9-of-16 (56.3%) from three-point range in his last four outings.
Tyrese Proctor is red hot following a midseason dip.
The junior guard is having the best season of his Duke career and has been projected as an early to mid-second round choice in this year’s NBA Draft. However, through mid-January, Proctor experienced a significant scoring slump, rarely contributing on that end of the floor. Proctor scored 33 points in Duke’s five games from January 11th to January 28th, for an average of 6.6 per game. He scored 20 points in Duke’s win over Boston College during that time, but combined for 13 points in the remaining four games, with Proctor going scoreless against Miami. But since February, Proctor has regained his groove. In Duke’s four games this month, Proctor is averaging 18.5 points per game on 26-of-52 (50%) shooting from the field and 13-of-29 (44.8%) from three. Despite a dip, the junior has remained active on offense and has rediscovered his stroke.
Defense entered this game with a chip on its shoulder.
Duke has the third-best adjusted defensive efficiency rating on KenPom and has been ranked in the top three to five defensive teams in college basketball all season. The Tigers overcame Clemson’s defense by shooting 58.8% from the field. The Blue Devils came into this game angry after an unranked team got all they wanted on the offensive side of the ball, making it a rough night for Andrej Stojakovic and the rest of the Golden Bears. Duke held the Golden Bears to 57 points on 35.1% shooting from the field and 30.4% shooting from beyond the arc. The Blue Devils also kept Stojakovic, who averages 17.5 points per game on 41.5% shooting this season, to 10 points on 4-of-14 shooting. The Blue Devils were back into smothering form that supporters had witnessed for the duration of this season.
The Blue Devils return home to face Stanford (16-9, 8-6 ACC) on Saturday (4:00pm ET, ESPN). The Cardinal are sixth in the ACC standings, having lost three of their last four.
