Thursday night inside Cameron Indoor featured two teams with their ceiling being at least a taste of the final four battled 40 minutes in a sold out spectacle, with #9 Duke defeating # 2 Auburn Tigers in it's first matchup since 2018 in Maui, 84-78.
The Blue Devils received huge contributions from it's 5-star class with Fayetteville native Isaiah Evans drilling 6 of 8 threes in the first half vaulting Duke to breathing room at intermission. Throughout the first 7 games of the season, Evans had logged just 44 minutes. Against ranked opponents, Kansas, Arizona and Kentucky the 5-star phenom logged 0 minutes, something from some scouts seemed mind boggling.
In the 2nd half Cooper Flagg help coast Duke past the finish line, something he had struggled to do in the final minutes versus Kentucky and Kansas where he forced 3 self inflicted turnovers, attributing to Duke searching for answers on whose the closer.
In the last 25 seasons versus Top-25 AP ranked teams no single player has logged a better stat line to zero turnovers in comparison toe Flagg's stat line Wednesday night with Copper tallying 22 points, 11 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 steals and 2 blocks according to Greg Harvey (via Twitter/X).
(photo courtesy of Montgomery Advertiser)
Thursday's resume builder for the Blue Devils gives a small sample size of what Coach Scheyer team is capable of doing when clicking on all cylinders.
For the Tigers, freshman stud Tahaad Pettiford's 20 points on 8-15 shooting including 4 of 8 from downtown will keep defenses at bay all season long.
Duke begins conference play Sunday on the road at Louisville, tipoff starting at 6pm.
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