Florida State always presents a unique challenge, always a long wiry team and always a physical game – add in a horrible officiating crew, and you get a game that seemed to take 4 hours and had zero flow. Duke, already down Maliq Brown and Tyrese Proctor, had to play minus freshman Cooper Flagg for the last 11 minutes of the first half after the 6’7 forward took a finger to the eye. Duke didn’t seem to miss too much of a beat, immediately going on a 13-3 run when Flagg had to exit the game. The Blue Devils won the half 47-30 on the strength of balanced scoring with 3 players amassing 9 points (Isaiah Evans, Kon Knueppel and Mason Gillis). The Blue Devils did miss their 2 missing defensive stalwarts Proctor and Brown, allowing a bad 3-point shooting Florida State team to shoot 40% from beyond the arc in the half. The Blue Devils still held the Seminoles to 37.5% shooting overall in the half while grabbing 12 offensive rebounds that led to 9 second chance points. The Blue Devils also scored 10 points off of Florida State’s 6 turnovers, while Duke had zero turnovers in the half.
Flagg returned for the second half for the Blue Devils and helped the Blue Devils go on a 17-9 run stretching their 17 point lead to 25. Kon Knueppel led the scoring charge during the run with 5 points, Flagg added 4 while Evans and James added 3 each. The Blue Devils coasted once again in an ACC game winning by 35. Isaiah Evans who notched his first start of the season scored a team high 19 points. Cooper Flagg, playing only 20 minutes, scored 16 points on 5-9 shooting. Flagg went 6-6 from the charity stripe and added 6 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals and a block. 2 other Blue Devils, Khaman Maluach and Kon Knueppel, scored in double-figures at 14 each. Knueppel led the Blue Devils with 5 assists with no turnovers, and Maluach added 10 rebounds for his fifth double-double of the season.
The Blue Devils lodged an efficient game with 17 assists and just 4 turnovers for the game. Duke won the rebounding battle, 49-32, including a season-high 21 offensive boards that Duke funneled into 17 second chance points. The Blue Devils have posted eight victories by a margin of 30 points or more.
