DURHAM, N.C. — Cooper Flagg had 21 points, eight rebounds and seven assists in his Duke–North Carolina rivalry debut, helping the second-ranked Blue Devils roll past the Tar Heels 87-70 on Saturday night.
Fellow freshman Kon Knueppel scored 22 points for Duke (19-2, 11-0 Atlantic Coast Conference), which shot 52.8% overall and made 10-of-20 from 3-point range to win their 15th straight game.
RJ Davis and Drake Powell each scored 12 points to lead the Tar Heels (13-10, 6-5), who fell behind 40-13 and trailed by as many as 32 points.
UNC: The Tar Heels have lost four of five, with the lone victory coming at home in overtime against a Boston College team that had just one league win at the time.
Duke: The Blue Devils have won their 11 league games by an average of 19.8 points, though there were grinds in the past week to beat Wake Forest and NC State.
The Blue Devils wobbled the Tar Heels with a 16-0 run that effectively ended this one early.
Tyrese Proctor got Duke going with a 3-pointer set up by Flagg passing out of a double-team then threw down a dunk after a turnover. Moments later, Flagg buried a catch-and-fire 3 from the top to force UNC into a timeout. He emerged from the stoppage by finishing a bounce feed from Proctor for a transition basket and a foul.
By the time Knueppel scored in the lane over Ian Jackson, the Blue Devils led 23-6.
North Carolina had more turnovers (nine) than field goals in the first half after shooting just 8-for-27 (29.6%). Duke had 11 points off those turnovers.
The Blue Devils will visit Syracuse on Wednesday night, while the Tar Heels will host Pittsburgh next Saturday in a game that could help boost their NCAA tournament rรฉsumรฉ.
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