No. 12 Duke Picks up Road Win at No. 17 Arizona, 69-55

Friday, November 22

Tucson, Ariz.

10:30 p.m.

Duke University

4-1,0-0ACC

Arizona

2-2,0-0Big 12

Duke

Arizona

No. 12 Duke Picks up Road Win at No. 17 Arizona, 69-55

11/22/2024 11:59:00 PM | Men's Basketball

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TUCSON, Ariz. – No. 12 Duke picked up a road win, 69-55, over No. 17 Arizona on Friday, Nov. 22. Cooper Flagg scored a game-high 24 points and controlled a game-high seven rebounds while playing 38 minutes. Kon Knueppel also reached double-figures, scoring 13 points and joining Flagg with seven rebounds. Maliq Brown also reeled in seven caroms and swiped a team-high three steals while Tyrese Proctor led the Blue Devils with four assists.

Duke out-rebounded Arizona, 43-30, and finished with a 13-6 advantage on the offensive glass. The Wildcats entered Friday night as the national leader in rebounding margin, while averaging 51.3 total rebounds and 21.7 offensive boards.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Arizona scored the first five points of the contest before a Khaman Maluach put-back layup gave Duke its first points of the night. Cooper Flagg scored five quick points to tie the score at seven with 17:24 on the clock. Back-to-back three-pointers from Tyrese Proctor gave the Blue Devils their first lead, 13-10, shortly before the first media timeout of the game.
Duke's defense held Arizona without a point for over five minutes and held a 15-14 advantage as the first half reached its halfway mark. A three-point-play by Maluach gave the freshman five points and Duke a five-point lead, 21-16.
Maliq Brown snapped a three-minute scoring drought and helped Duke maintain its lead, 26-22. The two teams traded baskets as halftime approached but the Blue Devils ended the half on a 6-0 scoring run and took its largest lead of the game, 34-27, into the locker room.
The Wildcats opened the second half with the first two baskets and pulled within three, 34-31. Duke scored the next five points, with Flagg reaching double-figures after a layup and Caleb Foster adding a three-pointer on Duke's next trip down the floor. Kon Knueppel drilled a three-pointer of his own to push the Blue Devils lead to double-digits, 42-31, at the first media timeout of the second half.
A dunk by Flagg pushed Duke's scoring run to 12-2 over a five-minute span and forced an Arizona timeout with 12:27 remaining in the contest. Back-to-back three-pointers by the Wildcats drew the hosts within seven, 48-41, with half of the second frame played.
Duke continued to hold Arizona at arm's length, 54-46, after a free throw by Flagg gave the freshman 20 points. Duke finished off the road win, 69-55, scoring the game's final six points across the closing minutes, including four free throws to ice the win.

NOTES

Head coach Jon Scheyer picked up his eighth win against a top-25 team and has led Duke to victory in seven of the last 10 games that the Blue Devils have played against ranked opponents.
Duke defeated a top-25 team in a true road game for the first time since knocking off Michigan State, 87-75, on Dec. 3, 2019, at the Breslin Center in East Lansing, Michigan.
The Blue Devils out-rebounded the Wildcats, 43-30, and have finished with a positive margin on the glass in all five contests so far this season. Arizona started the contest as the national leader in rebounding margin (+24.3).
Arizona entered Friday averaging 21.7 offensive boards per game, but finished the night with just six.
Arizona was averaging 94.3 points per outing, which ranked ninth in the country, but the Blue Devils held the Wildcats to just 55 points on 39.6% shooting from the field and 26.1% behind the arc.
Arizona's 55 points represent the Wildcats' lowest offensive output in the regular season since Feb. 27, 2020, a 57-48 road loss at USC.
Duke's defense limited Caleb Love, Arizona's leading scorer at 13.5 points per game, to just eight points on 3-of-13 shooting from the field, including 1-of-9 from beyond the arc.
Duke snapped a three-game losing streak in the series versus the Wildcats, having last defeated Arizona, 82-72, in the 2001 national championship game.
Duke secured its first win at the McKale Center in program history, having previously lost the last two matchups on Arizona's home court (1991, 1987).
The Blue Devils have now won all 12 games played on Nov. 22.
Cooper Flagg led the team with 24 total points, including 16 points after intermission, while also adding seven rebounds, three assists, two blocks and one steal.
Kon Knueppel scored 11 second-half points, connecting on 3-of-4 from distance after the break, to finish with 13 points, while also grabbing seven boards to tie for the team lead.
Tyrese Proctor finished with two three-pointers en route to eight points. The junior has now made at least two three-pointers in every game this season, including exhibitions, and had his double-digit scoring streak snapped after scoring at least 10 points in every game so far this season, including exhibitions.
Proctor also added a team-high four assists and four rebounds.
Khaman Maluach and Caleb Foster also contributed eight points apiece, and Sion James added six points and six rebounds.
Maliq Brown collected seven rebounds to equal the team high, while registering three assists, two steals and a blocked shot.

QUOTES

"The preparation for this game and the home-and-home series that we did, really started with the respect for Tommy Lloyd and the Arizona basketball program. The environment tonight, to get tested this early in the season on the road, I find incredible value in it. I've known Tommy for a long time and to be able to out-rebound a Tommy Lloyd basketball team at Arizona is a credit to the players and the fight that they had because [Arizona] has been consistently as good as anybody in the country. I expect the same thing this year. So, to come in here, hold them to 55 points, out-rebound them by 13, did a good job keeping them off the foul line – to me, those were the keys. It really started with the amazing character of the players. The connectivity of our team to be able to bounce back after a tough loss and to come back home and move on. We talk about having to move on and have that 'next play' mentality, and we've had that. Incredibly proud. Ton of respect for them, Tommy and their whole team. Really proud of the win tonight." - Duke head coach Jon Scheyer
"Kentucky was a really good test. Coming out of halftime in this game, we talked about Kentucky, and we huddled before we went back out, and we just said, we have to a have a better start than we did back then. And we came out a little shaky, but we stayed together. I think everyone just came as one and we didn't separate. We trusted our work, like coach said, and we just knew we could pull through the second half." - Duke junior guard Tyrese Proctor

UP NEXT

No. 12 Duke remains on the road, battling No. 1 Kansas on Tuesday, Nov. 26 in Las Vegas. The Blue Devils and Jayhawks tip off inside T-Mobile Arena at 9 p.m., ET, with the game broadcast on ESPN.

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