Jan. 27—With Cooper Flagg leading the way, the Duke men’s basketball team is the hottest team in the country — right in time for a meeting with its top rival.
The No. 2 Blue Devils have won 13 consecutive games and are 17-2 entering play Monday. Coming up next are a pair of in-state rivals, including North Carolina State and then North Carolina, Duke’s nemesis and one of the most anticipated matchups each year.
Last week
Fresh off of his New England return, Flagg, who grew up in Newport, kept up his impressive play with the Blue Devils. In Duke’s only game of the week, Flagg scored 24 points with seven rebounds and six assists in leading the Blue Devils over ACC rival Wake Forest, 63-56.
Duke was cold from the field, shooting only 36.8% and even falling behind by six points in the second half, but Flagg went 8 of 16 from the field and was 7 of 9 from the free-throw line.
“I think the response for us was huge,” Flagg said. “We haven’t been in a ton of those positions throughout this year. I thought it was a big opportunity for us to show that we can stay composed. And even when a team makes a run, just stay levelheaded.”
Wake Forest coach Steve Forbes praised the Maine native after the game.
“(He’s) generational,” he said. “He’s at that level. He’s going to play in the NBA for a long time.”
The week ahead
Monday
Opponent: North Carolina State
Time: 8:30 p.m.
TV: ESPN
Noteworthy: The Blue Devils have the advantage in tournament resume, with five national championships and 17 Final Four appearances to N.C. State’s two and four, respectively, but it’s the Wolfpack who more recently made the Final Four, advancing to the national semifinals last year — and upsetting No. 4 Duke as an 11 seed to get there — before falling to Purdue.
Duke is 82-52 against N.C. State, but has dropped the last two matchups. Marcus Hill (13.2 points) and Jayden Taylor (12.7) lead the Wolfpack (9-10 overall, (2-6 in the ACC).
Saturday
Opponent: North Carolina
Time: 6:30 p.m.
TV: ESPN
Noteworthy: College basketball’s greatest rivalry resumes Saturday, when Duke hosts UNC for the first of two matchups this regular season. Duke is 66-85 all-time against UNC, and has dropped four of the last six meetings.
After going 29-8 and earning a No. 1 seed in last year’s NCAA tournament, however, the Tar Heels have scuffled so far this season. UNC is 13-8 and 6-3 in the ACC, but is unranked and only 1-4 against top 25 teams. The Tar Heels seemed to hit their stride with wins in six of seven games, but then lost twice in a row to Stanford and Wake Forest before needing overtime to edge Boston College on Saturday.
RJ Davis is the top UNC scorer at 17.7 points per game, followed by Ian Jackson (15.0) and Seth Trimble (12.4).
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