Kentucky Knocks Off Duke, 77-72 In The Champions Classic

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Duke fell to Kentucky 77-72 in the Champions Classic Tuesday night in a tense and mostly well-played game by both teams. Kentucky played better down the stretch though and that was ultimately the deciding factor.

Duke got a terrific performance out of Cooper Flagg, who finished with 26 points, 12 rebounds and two blocks. No one else played particularly well though, at least not for the entire game, and two players had significant physical problems: Khaman Maluach left the game twice with cramps and Sion James ran into a Kentucky player and injured his shoulder and did not come back in the game.

Duke was the better team for much of the game, but the Wildcats were stronger near the end.

In the last 1:44, Flagg got a layup to tie the game at 72-72 and after Kerr Kriisa missed a shot, Flagg got the rebound. Unfortunately, he had a turnover with :12 seconds left and another with :05.

It was a tough way to end what was in effect his national coming out party because for much of the game, we saw him play very, very well indeed. Even the best freshmen will do freshmen things though.

It was a tough night at times for fellow freshman Kon Knueppel, who started slow, played well in the middle and faded at the end, and it wasn't a great night for Khaman Maluach, although his cramping made his life more difficult than it might have been.

Collectively, Duke shot just 4-23 from three point range. Knueppel, who has been very reliable from outside, was just 1-8, Caleb Foster 0-4, Flagg 1-5, Tyrese Proctor 2-5 and Mason Gillis 0-4.

That won’t happen too often - Duke has too many good shooters for that on a regular basis - but it didn’t help.

Even so, Duke did a lot of things right. Kobi Brea, who has been red hot to start the season, only got five shot attempts. Kerr Kriisa had nine but hit just two of those.

Duke finished the first half with just one turnover and had five until the last :12 seconds and Flagg’s late pair.

There were some real bright spots.

In the end though, partly thanks to James’s early departure, this became a baptism by fire for the three starting freshmen. They all showed promise, particularly Flagg, but they all had freshmen moments.

Now it’s back to Durham to break down the tape, to see what can be garnered from the tape and to iron out the inconsistencies. Losing to Kentucky isn’t much more fun than losing to UNC, but it’s November. This team has immense promise.

That said, we hope James is okay.

Notes - Kentucky’s offense was a big part of the story here...as we’ve seen previously, Mark Pope’s system emphasizes ball movement and good, open shots...UK hit 10-25 from behind the line, outscoring Duke there 30-12...there were stretches that Flagg dominated this game and he tried to take over at the end but wasn’t quite ready to take that leap...he’ll get there...Patrick Ngongba dressed tonight but wasn’t going to play on such short notice and not being in game shape...perhaps soon...

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