NEW YORK — Cooper Flagg had 16 factors in his Madison Sq. Backyard debut and 7 gamers scored in double figures for No. 3 Duke in a 110-67 blowout of Illinois on Saturday night time.
Isaiah Evans paced the Blue Devils (24-3) with 17 factors off the bench, and Kon Knueppel added 15. Duke constructed a 23-point lead within the first half and was by no means threatened whereas setting a season scoring excessive.
Flagg, the freshman anticipated to be the highest choose on this 12 months’s NBA draft, added seven rebounds and 5 assists in 23 1/2 minutes. However the Blue Devils didn’t even want his finest on this night time.
Tre White had 16 factors for Illinois (17-11) in a nonconference matchup between applications that misplaced within the Elite Eight of the NCAA Event final 12 months. Kasparas Jakucionis scored 14.
Takeaways
Illinois: Hampered just lately by sicknesses and an harm to ahead Morez Johnson Jr., the Combating Illini have pale following a 12-3 begin. They’ve misplaced three straight — all by at the least 14 factors to groups ranked within the high 11 on the time.
Duke: Eyeing a No. 1 seed within the NCAA Event, the Blue Devils boast one of many nation’s stingiest defenses. They delivered an excellent efficiency on that finish of the ground of their first sport since defensive stopper Maliq Brown dislocated his left shoulder in Monday’s win at Virginia.
Key second
After getting whistled for 2 fouls within the first 11:18 of a quiet first half, Flagg opened the second interval with a fast-break dunk. He added one other jam minutes later and gave the Duke throng in a soldout crowd of 19,812 what it got here to see.
Key stat
Illinois missed its first 17 makes an attempt from 3-point vary and completed 2 for 26 from past the arc.
Up subsequent
Illinois: Will resume Huge Ten play at dwelling Tuesday night time towards Iowa.
Duke: Go to Miami on Tuesday night time.
