Blue Devils Smother Panthers, 76-47

Tuesday, January 7

Durham, N.C.

7 p.m.

Duke University

13-2,5-0ACC

Pitt

12-3,3-1ACC

Pittsburgh

Duke

Blue Devils Smother Panthers, 76-47

1/7/2025 9:53:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)Duke Quotes (PDF)Opponent Quotes (PDF)Coach Scheyer Presser Highlights Postgame Notes (PDF)Photo Gallery

DURHAM, N.C. – A strong defensive effort by No. 4 Duke and a double-double from Cooper Flagg helped the Blue Devils (13-2, 5-0 ACC) to a 76-47 victory over Pittsburgh (12-3, 3-1 ACC) on Tuesday, Jan. 7. Five Blue Devils finished in double-figures, with Flagg joined by his classmates Kon Knueppel (17) and Khaman Maluach (11), junior Tyrese Proctor (13) and graduate Sion James (10).

Duke closed the game on an 18-0 scoring run and didn't allow a Pittsburgh point spanning the final 7:59 of the game. Overall, the Blue Devils limited the Panthers to season-lows for points (47), field goals made (18), field goal percentage (.310) and total rebounds (26).

Flagg secured the sixth double-double of his career with 10 boards, while three Blue Devils finished with at least seven rebounds, with Flagg joined by Maluach and James, who reeled in eight and seven, respectively.

HOW IT HAPPENED

An alley-oop slam by Khaman Maluach on Duke's first possession quickly put Duke in front. Tyrese Proctor and Sion James both connected on their first three-point attempts of the evening to give Duke an early 8-3 lead.
Cooper Flagg also drilled his first attempt from beyond the arc, giving the Blue Devils an 11-5 advantage after just over five minutes of play. The visitors scored seven straight points grab their first lead of the night, 12-11, as the clock ticked under 11 minutes in the first half. Maluach's second dunk of the night put Duke back in front, 13-12, at the 9:51 mark.
Duke expanded its lead to 10, 29-19, courtesy of three consecutive three-pointers from Kon Knueppel. The Blue Devils remained ahead by the same margin, 34-24, heading into halftime.
A thunderous dunk through contact by Flagg, followed by a two-handed stuff by the freshman, gave Duke a 42-28 lead after three minutes of second-half action. A Pittsburgh three-pointer pulled the visitors back within 10, 43-33, shortly after the first media timeout of the second stanza.
Knueppel made his fourth three-pointer of the game to give the freshman 17 points and Duke a 17-point lead, 50-33, at the 13:23 mark. Pittsburgh pulled back within 11, 58-47, following a quick 9-2 scoring run and Duke called timeout with 7:49 remaining in the game.
The Blue Devils scored the next eight points, seizing control with a 19-point edge, 66-47, at the final media timeout of the game. Proctor's second three-pointer of the game made it an 11-point run, and the Blue Devils ended the contest with 18 unanswered points to close out the 76-47 win.

NOTES

The victory marked head coach Jon Scheyer's 40th win at home as Duke's head coach. The Blue Devils are 40-3 at Cameron Indoor Stadium during Scheyer's tenure.
Duke has now won nine straight games, the third-longest active winning streak in the nation.
Duke has won its first five conference games by double-digits, the first time a Duke team has accomplished the feat since the 1998-99 season.
Tuesday night was the 27th meeting between Duke and Pittsburgh, with the Blue Devils improving to 18-9 in the series.
The Blue Devils played the final 7:59 of the game without allowing a Pittsburgh point. Duke ended the game on an 18-0 scoring run after calling a timeout while leading, 58-47.
Duke's defense continued its streak of holding unranked opponents to less than 65 points. Pittsburgh entered the game averaging 84.1 points per game, third-highest in the conference.
Duke held Pittsburgh to 24 first-half points, the lowest point total by the Panthers in a first half this season, and 23 second-half points, the fewest by Pittsburgh in a second half this season.
Pittsburgh finished the game with a season-low 47 points. The Blue Devils have now held seven of their opponents to a season-low scoring output.
The fourth-ranked Blue Devils are now 302-92 (.766) in ACC regular-season games when ranked as a top-five team in the country.
Duke improved its record to 25-7 when playing on Jan. 7, including a 15-2 ledger at home, and has won nine straight games on that date since 1998.
The Blue Devils ended the game with 11 made three-pointers, their fourth straight game with double-digit makes from deep.
The Blue Devils won the rebounding battle, 41-26, and have out-rebounded 12 of their first 15 opponents this season.
Duke collected 28 points in the paint, compared to 20 by the Panthers. The Blue Devils have out-scored the opposition in the paint in 13 of their 15 games.
The Blue Devils held the Panthers to just seven fast-break points, who entered the game averaging 11.9 fast-break points per game. Duke opponents have logged single-digit fast-break points in all but two games this season.
As a team, Duke's defense has limited power-conference opponents to 64.4 points per game and 39.7 percent from the field.
Cooper Flagg logged a double-double for the sixth time this season and the second game in a row, finishing with 19 points and 10 rebounds. The freshman scored 14 of his points in the second half, and also dished a team-high five assists, blocked a shot and logged the team's only steal.
Kon Knueppel connected on 4-of-7 from beyond the arc en route to 17 total points. The freshman has made multiple three-pointers in seven of Duke's last eight games, and has finished with at least three made three-pointers in three of the last four contests.
Tyrese Proctor scored 13 points, highlighted by a 3-of-4 performance from deep. The junior is 38-of-88 (.423) from beyond the arc this season, and has made at least two three-pointers in all but four of Duke's games.
Khaman Maluach added 11 points on 4-of-5 from the field, while also snagging eight rebounds and blocking one shot.
Sion James rounded out Duke's double-digit scoring, contributing 10 points. The graduate also reeled in seven caroms, distributed four assists and matched his season high for blocks with two.

QUOTES

"I thought it was a great win. A great night. Ton of respect for Pitt. I think it's crazy that they're not ranked, with what they've done this season. Jeff [Capel] and I know each other really well, and he's an amazing coach. Offensively, they made us do some different things we haven't done, because they're so explosive. They've been averaging 84 points a game. For us, we ended up switching a lot, trying to force a one-on-one, although they have really good one-on-one players. The story tonight was our collective defense. To hold them to 47 points is terrific. The job that Cooper [Flagg] did in the second half, he is so competitive, and he brings out a lot of good stuff from his teammates and for our team. To close the game on an 18-0 run was big time. I'm really proud of our team. It's good to be back in-person. It's much better than watching on TV. Good win tonight. We need to keep building." - Duke head coach Jon Scheyer
"I thought it was a great scout, great game plan for us coming in. I thought we stuck to it the whole game. They were getting it going early a little bit, hitting some tough shots, but we knew that that's what they were going to come in and try to do – hit a lot of contested, tough shots. We just stuck to the game plan and I thought it worked out really well." - Duke freshman guard/forward Cooper Flagg
"I think we fed off of Sion's [James] energy. He was awesome tonight. Mason [Gillis] coming off the bench and giving us good minutes. But Cooper's the best player on our team. Everybody knows that, so when you've got a guy flying around like that and being as competitive as he is, it definitely gets us going. (On Flagg's dunk) It's probably the best dunk I've ever seen in my life in person. He's got those long arms that make his dunks look so much cooler. Sometimes it might be the angle on that rim, but man, he just soared over that guy today and it was awesome to watch." - Duke freshman guard/forward Kon Knueppel

UP NEXT

No. 4 Duke remains at home for its next ACC game, welcoming Notre Dame to Cameron Indoor Stadium on Saturday, Jan. 11. The Blue Devils (13-2, 5-0 ACC) and Fighting Irish (7-7, 1-2 ACC) tipoff at 12 p.m., on ESPN.

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