NEWARK, N.J. — Freshman star Cooper Flagg tallied 30 factors, six rebounds, seven assists and three blocks as top-seeded Duke survived fourth-seeded Arizona 100-93 in a Candy 16 thriller on Thursday.
The Blue Devils (34-3) made 13 consecutive photographs from the ground, together with their first 9 of the second half, to leap forward earlier than keeping off a valiant Arizona comeback spearheaded by Caleb Love. Duke will face second-seeded Alabama within the East Area ultimate on Saturday.
Kon Knueppel scored 20 factors, Sion James 16 and Khaman Maluach 13 for the Blue Devils. That trio mixed on 16-for-21 capturing from the ground, fueling Duke’s 60 % night time (33 of 55).
Love, an NCAA Event stalwart at each North Carolina and Arizona, scored a season-high 35 factors in his ultimate faculty sport. Jaden Bradley contributed 15 and Henri Veesaar added 13 for the Wildcats (24-13), who could not sustain regardless of making 12 3-pointers.
Arizona trailed 70-51 with 13:12 to go, however Love willed them again by pouring in 15 straight Wildcats factors, changing from the paint, the arc and the foul line.
Arizona clawed inside seven on the 4:45 mark when Love’s baseline lower resulted in a straightforward dunk, and Carter Bryant’s nook trey made it 91-86 with 1:56 to go. Flagg drew a foul when KJ Lewis pushed him to the bottom, and the doubtless No. 1 total draft decide transformed each free throws to revive Duke’s seven-point edge.
The Wildcats managed three extra buckets within the ultimate 33 seconds, however Duke took care of enterprise on the foul line to ice it.
Arizona loved an early 15-10 lead however missed its subsequent eight photographs in a row. Tyrese Proctor, Isaiah Evans and Knueppel made triples to forge an 11-0 run and a seven-point Duke benefit.
The Wildcats tied it 4 instances within the first however by no means pushed in entrance once more. Within the ultimate minute, Knueppel answered Love’s game-tying 3-pointer with a trey of his personal, then Flagg pulled up from 25 ft to beat the buzzer and ship the Blue Devils a 48-42 lead.
Duke quickly grabbed its first double-digit benefit when James’ nook triple made it 56-44 with 17:41 to play. Maluach subsequently was the centerpiece of the 13-for-13 run. Three of his 5 photographs in that span had been alley-oop dunks lobbed up by Flagg or Proctor.
–Adam Zielonka, Discipline Stage Media