By now you surely know that Duke Blue Devils star freshman Cooper Flagg is well worth all of the hype he brought with him to Durham, North Carolina. The 18-year-old came into Saturday's matchup with the Notre Dame Fighting Irish as one of the top candidates to eventually be named college basketball's National Player of the Year, and he departed Duke's 86-78 win with a bolstered resume thanks to an ACC record-setting 42-point performance.
Flagg's head coach Jon Scheyer, on the other hand, departed Saturday's game with his second career technical, thanks in large part to how he believed Flagg was being officiated.
After the game, Scheyer explained what went into his sideline explosion.
“People are going to do things to try to make it easier to guard him,” the Duke head coach said of Flagg, per the Associated Press. “And grabbing and holding is going to be something that's there. So it wasn't just one play isolated for me. It's just understanding that he does get hit. Again, I have a ton of respect for those three officials, the officiating in our league. But I'm also going to advocate for our guys when I feel like something isn't being called the right way or respected.”
Fortunately, Cooper Flagg made the Irish pay for getting physical with him. Notre Dame committed 13 fouls on Flagg, and the start freshman knocked down 16 of his 17 free throw attempts. Altogether, Duke made 30 of their 35 free throw attempts. Notre Dame's Braeden Shrewsberry missed both of the free throws after Scheyer was hit with a technical, so it turns out that ball indeed does not lie.
“It's a huge part of the game if you're able to get in the paint and get fouled,” Flagg said after the game, “so I was kind of able to get that going early and was kind of able to live in the paint tonight.”
Whether he was in the paint, behind the three-point arc, or anywhere in between, Cooper Flagg looked unstoppable on Saturday afternoon.