Cooper Flagg ... angry? ACC teams won’t like the Duke basketball star when he’s angry
Something changed in Cooper Flagg with 17:43 to play in Duke’s game with Pittsburgh on Tuesday night.
The 6-9 freshman star grew angry, irritated with himself for picking up his third foul while equally upset with the officiating crew that appeared to make a mistake in awarding the Panthers the ball on a previous play.
That boiling cauldron caused a player who is already not only Duke’s best basketball player, but among the best in the ACC and the nation, to find a higher level.
“You see that Cooper every once in a while,” Duke freshman forward Kon Knueppel, Flagg’s roommate, said, “and we want to see more.”
Flagg scored 14 of his team-high 19 points in the second half as the No. 4 Blue Devils rolled over Pitt, 76-47, for their ninth consecutive win. That’s the basic version of what happened.
The details are far better for Duke, and should frighten any team on the Blue Devils’ schedule.
Six seconds after Flagg was called for his third foul, Pitt attempted an entry pass into the lane where Cameron Corhen was posting Flagg up.
Some players would be hesitant, protective of picking up a fourth foul.
Not Flagg.
He reached around Corhen to steal the pass and began dribbling the other direction.
“I’m not gonna ever go against my instinct,” Flagg said. “So when he started trying to post me up, I felt like I’m not just gonna sit behind him because I have three fouls. I gotta make the play. Trust my instincts. That’s just what happened.”
Now leading a fast break, Flagg zoomed past Duke’s bench, laser-focused on the basket. Pitt’s 7-foot forward Guillermo Diaz Graham found himself between the rim and Flagg.
He lost.
Flagg leaped, cocked the ball behind his head and threw down a one-handed dunk while Diaz Graham was called for a foul.
The noise inside Cameron Indoor Stadium grew its loudest of the night. Flagg screamed into the din in elation, relief and happiness.
“That was the best dunk I’ve ever seen in person,” Knueppel said, after he and his teammates had gathered around guard Tyrese Proctor’s phone in the postgame locker room to watch Flagg’s dunk over and over.
Duke coach Jon Scheyer offered a comparison that will always resonate positively with Blue Devil fans.
“Look, it reminded me of, like, a Zion kind of play,” Scheyer said. “That’s what it reminded me of, because of how it sparked Cameron.”
That dunk and free throw extended Duke’s lead from 11 points to 14, at 40-26.
Flagg wasn’t done.
On Duke’s next possession, Flagg found himself isolated with Diaz Graham guarding him on the perimeter. Flagg’s crossover dribble allowed him to zoom past the overmatched big man for a two-handed dunk that put Duke up 42-28.
Cameron’s noise grew again. It felt like Pitt was done — and it was. The Panthers never drew closer than 11 points the rest of the game.
An angry Flagg makes an already productive player even more dangerous.
“He does get angry,” Scheyer said, “but he’s loose at the same time. He loves being in the moment, being in the arena, but he’s got an edge to him now. Like, it can go quick. And I think we saw that tonight.”
Flagg finished with another double-double, adding 10 rebounds to his 19 points. He continues to lead Duke in scoring (17.4 points), rebounds (8.4) and assists (3.6).
But his spirited play against Pitt, as Duke demolished yet another presumed contender to its first-place league standing, showed there’s even a higher level of impact he can have on the Blue Devils’ play.
“He doesn’t hunt numbers,” Scheyer said. “He just puts up numbers because the game comes to him. He plays the game the right way. So I think we need to make sure we’re talking about him that way, because he’s proven it to me. He’s got to continue to prove it. But for me, when we step on the floor, we have the best player in the country, and that’s that’s a big deal.”
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This story was originally published January 8, 2025 at 6:00 AM.