Ready for takeoff: Duke star Cooper Flagg puts highlight-dunk signature on Pittsburgh win
DURHAM, N.C. (AP) — Cooper Flagg was still simmering, angry at himself, for picking up his third foul so early in the second half before knocking away an entry pass to force a turnover.
He collected the ball and raced across halfcourt, his momentum building with every step as he hurtled toward the paint with a taller defender trying to get back. And there was no way Duke’s star 18-year-old was going to stop.
“As soon as I jumped, my mind kind of went blank and it just all happened really fast,” Flagg said.
“It” was the 6-foot-9 Flagg soaring in to throw down a jaw-dropping one-handed dunk through a foul from Pittsburgh 7-footer Guillermo Diaz Graham in the second half of the fourth-ranked Blue Devils’ 76-47 win Tuesday night. The coast-to-coach sequence blew the roof off Cameron Indoor Stadium, along with offering another glimpse of the tantalizing potential of a player viewed as a potential No. 1 overall NBA draft pick long before he ever stepped on campus.
“Coop does special stuff all the time, we’ve come to expect it,” teammate Sion James said. “But that showed us something, that he can still surprise us.”
The preseason Associated Press All-American had 19 points, 10 rebounds, five assists, one steal and one block in nearly 33 minutes of work as Duke locked down defensively in a matchup of teams unbeaten in Atlantic Coast Conference play.
Yet it was a single sequence that stood out as a signature moment.
Four seconds.
Three dribbles.
And one more highlight in what is likely a one-year college stopover before the NBA, good enough that it had Duke coach Jon Scheyer thinking of another one-and-done Blue Devils star.
“Look, it reminded me of a Zion kind of play,” Scheyer said of Zion Williamson, the dunking marvel who became AP national player of the year and the top NBA draft pick in 2019.
“That’s what it reminded me of, because of how it sparked Cameron. Not me myself, but we’ve had a few guys through the years to make a couple of plays that just spark everybody in teh building. And that was one of those moments tonight.”
Boy, did it.
Flagg picked up his third foul at the 17:43 mark when he tried to knock away an inbounds pass, though Scheyer didn’t pull him. Instead, Flagg was lurking behind Pitt’s Cameron Corhen as Jaland Lowe bounced an entry pass for Corhen, only to see Flagg break on the ball from Corhen’s left side to deflect it.
He collected the ball and raced past Lowe as he crossed halfcourt, only a few steps from Scheyer on the Duke sideline. He was already signaling his intent to go to the rim as he turned toward the left elbow with Diaz Graham closing from the other side of the court.
“I knew he was going to try to dunk it,” James said, “but once I saw (Diaz Graham) step up, I was like ‘Oh, well of course he’s going to lay it up now because that’s what any sane person would do.”
Instead, Flagg kept charging and launched off his left foot from the left edge of the paint. He extended his right arm, the ball high in his hand, as he elevated and Diaz Graham went up to contest at the last moment.
“Everything from that was just, like a flash,” Flagg said, snapping his fingers.
Flagg threw the ball down down forcefully as the whistle blew, then landed to stand chest-to-chest with Diaz Graham.
The Crazies kicked into a heightened roar. Teammate Khaman Maluach delivered an excited chestbump to Flagg. James stood out beyond the 3-point arc, his mouth agape and his hands on his head in disbelief.
And that vibe didn’t stop after the game, either. Duke’s players even took a moment to gather around Tyrese Proctor’s cellphone in the locker room and watch a replay before talking to reporters.
“I mean, that’s the best in-game dunk I’ve ever seen,” Proctor said.
And Flagg wasn’t done, following by going off the dribble for a two-handed dunk on the next possession, still seemingly fuming about foul No. 3. He never picked up his fourth and finished with 14 second-half points, capping a performance that Scheyer said highlights how he brings the best out of the Blue Devils with his all-around floor game.
And there’s plenty of room to grow for a player that turned 18 less than three weeks ago.
“He doesn’t hunt numbers,” Scheyer said. “He just puts up numbers because the game comes to him. He plays the game the right way. I think we need to make sure we’re talking about him that way.
“He’s proving it to me. He’s got to continue to prove it. But for me, when we step on the floor, we have the best player in the country. And that’s a big deal.”
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