It was the other basketball event of the night in the United States. In addition to the NBA “multiplex” evening with the 30 teams in action, the NCAA has resumed its rights with the main attraction Cooper Flagg. The winger took his first steps in an official match with Duke during the big victory against the University of Maine (96-62). The favorite to be number one in the next NBA draft did not miss his first outing, in the Blue Devils collective.
However, we had to be patient to witness Cooper Flagg's first basket in the NCAA. The training companion of Team USA this summer initially played the facilitator, evolving in the role of false leader. Cooper Flagg opened his personal counter with free throws, before waiting more than 13 minutes of play before scoring his first basket in the game. The machine was launched, with a big dunk left hand in penetration at the end of the first period.
A complete match but no address
Not very skillful for his debut (6/15, including 0/4 from 3-point range), Cooper Flagg was more aggressive in scoring in the second period, taking advantage of his size advantage to make the difference in the low post. And he more than made up for his inaccuracy by contributing in many areas of the game, and on both ends of the pitch.
He finished with 18 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists and 3 interceptions in a good collective performance from Duke (six players with 10 points or more).
“ It's just something that's always been a part of my game, trying to impact the game in a lot of different ways. » reacted the university starwith an already very measured speech. “ Whether it's making the right call, finding an open teammate, rebounding, it doesn't matter how. This is something the team generally takes pride in. Only 6% of the time in a match involves making or missing shots. So we have to be there for the remaining 94%, which are not shots. Rebounding, being solid on defense, playing with energy… All those things you have control over. It's very important for us and we pay a lot of attention to it, trying to influence the match in every way possible. »
Cooper Flagg was almost stolen the spotlight by another “five-star” recruit from the Blue Devils, Kon Knueppel, dominant in the first period (15 points in 16 minutes) and Duke's top scorer with 22 points at 8/14.
In other highlights of the night, another old high school terror shone. Interior Derik Queen, Cooper Flagg's former teammate at Montverde and also an All-American, was omnipresent in his first game with Maryland, signing 22 points and 20 rebounds against Manhattan. We had to go back 17 years earlier to find traces of the last rookie player to have made a first match in 20-20, a certain Michael Beasley, future number 2 in the Draft before having a very contrasting career.
Kentucky's first game after the departure of its former coach John Calipari turned into a demonstration, a 103-62 success against Wright State for the debut on the bench of Mark Pope, former BYU coach adept at a fiery offensive game. all flame. Outgoing champion Purdue struggled in the first post-Zach Edey match, before breaking away at the end of the match (90-73) against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.
