RALEIGH, N.C. — Freshman sensation Cooper Flagg and top-seeded Duke will be heading to the Sweet 16 after handling ninth-seeded Baylor in an 89-66 victory in the East Region’s second round Sunday afternoon.
Tyrese Proctor poured in 25 points and Flagg scored 18 points as the hot-shooting Blue Devils recorded their second tournament blowout in three days.
“It’s just our competitive edge and our willingness to play together,” Flagg said. “Everybody has everybody’s back.”
Kon Knueppel racked up 12 points as part of the Blue Devils’ rousing performance in front of a large contingent of their fans just about a half-hour drive from campus.
Duke (33-3), which has a 13-game winning streak, faces No. 4 seed Arizona in the Sweet 16 round Thursday night at Newark, N.J.
“The preparation for this game started with great respect for (Baylor coach) Scott Drew,” said Duke coach Jon Scheyer, whose team shot 64.4 percent from the field. “To win by this margin speaks to this group’s killer instinct and connectivity – and the Sweet 16 sounds great to us.”
VJ Edgecombe posted 16 points, Norchad Omier had 15 points and nine rebounds and Langston Love finished with 11 points for Baylor (20-15), which shot just 36.8 percent from the field. The Bears won back-to-back games only once since January and they couldn’t produce another winning streak in the tournament.
“At the end of the year, if there are no tears that means you didn’t really put your heart into it,” Drew said. “We always talk about emptying your cup. That’s all you can do is empty your cup. I know our staff feels like we emptied our cup this year and I know a lot of our players feel the same.”
Former Duke guard Jeremy Roach, who was a key part of the team’s 2022 Final Four team, completed his only season with Baylor with a seven-point outing off the bench.
Proctor went 3-for-4 from beyond the arc in the first half and then added three more 3s in a 2-minute, 15-second stretch in the second half. For good measure, he drained another 3-pointer with less than three minutes left.
Then he and Flagg, who also had nine rebounds and six assists, exited the game to another round of applause.
“It’s something you dream about your whole life,” Flagg said of playing in the NCAA Tournament.
The Blue Devils ended the first half on a 12-0 run to go up 47-30, aided by 65 percent shooting from the field. Flagg had 15 points by the half and Proctor’s three 3s helped him to 11 first-half points.
Flagg picked up his second foul with an offensive infraction with 6:58 left in the first half and sat out for about three minutes. He was unfazed, with his 3-pointer extending the Blue Devils’ lead to 40-30 with more than two minutes left in the half.
–Bob Sutton, Field Level Media
