Duke claimed the ACC tournament championship with a 73-62 win over Louisville on Saturday night, overcoming an early deficit and dominating in the second half. The Blue Devils’ depth of talent was on full display as they erased a five-point halftime deficit to secure the title.
Coach Jon Scheyer praised his team’s toughness and resilience, saying, “It says a lot about our toughness as a team… This is going to give us extra motivation and lessons to move forward.” Duke’s star player, Cooper Flagg, was held back from playing in the tournament due to an ankle injury, but it seemed like no issue. The Blue Devils’ two other projected lottery picks from their freshman class, Kon Knueppel and Khaman Maluach, stepped up to fill the void.
Knueppel won tournament MVP honors with 18 points and eight rebounds, while Maluach was a force on defense throughout the tournament run. Despite Flagg’s absence, Duke still managed to win its ACC games by 20 points or more in 13 of 20 regular season matchups.
For Scheyer, there was little point in pushing Flagg back onto the court for the ACC tournament after his injury. However, X-rays came back negative, and he saw real progress in Flagg’s recovery throughout the weekend. The team is now fully expected to play Flagg in the NCAA tournament, where Duke is projected to be a top seed.
“We’ve approached the whole year to finish what’s right in front of you,” Scheyer said. “We’re going to learn a ton from this experience and it will give us extra motivation to move forward.”
Source: https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/44270861/proctor-knueppel-carry-no-1-duke-no-13-louisville-73-62-2nd-acc-title-3-years