Blue Devils Race Past Mustangs, 89-62

Saturday, January 4

Dallas, Texas

2:15 p.m.

Duke University

12-2,4-0ACC

SMU

11-3,2-1ACC

Duke

SMU

Blue Devils Race Past Mustangs, 89-62

1/4/2025 4:25:00 PM | Men's Basketball

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DALLAS – Duke men's basketball trailed for only 29 seconds at SMU on Saturday, Jan. 4, as the Blue Devils (12-2, 4-0 ACC) cruised to an 89-62 victory over the Mustangs (11-3, 2-1 ACC). Freshman Cooper Flagg poured in 24 points and posted his fifth double-double of the season with a team-high 11 rebounds to lead the Blue Devils. The 20-point double-double is Flagg's fourth such game of his freshman campaign.

Kon Knueppel and Tyrese Proctor also scored in double-figures, as each contributed 14 points. Sion James dished a season-high eight assists, one shy of his career high.

As a team, Duke tallied 22 assists on their 33 made field goals. The Blue Devils are averaging 20.3 assists per game across their last three games, and Duke's 3.1 assist-turnover ratio on Saturday afternoon set a new benchmark for the season.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Two free throws from Cooper Flagg and an SMU three-pointer started the game's scoring. A driving layup from Tyrese Proctor and Kon Knueppel combined for the next eight points, giving the Blue Devils an early 10-3 lead inside the first three minutes of play.
Proctor nailed his second consecutive shot from deep, giving the junior eight early points. Duke's lead grew to 10, 17-7, before SMU responded with the game's next five points to halve the Blue Devils' lead.
The Mustangs used an offensive stretch of six makes across eight shots, an 11-3 scoring run, to trail by just two, 18-16, at the under-12 media timeout. Flagg knocked down his first three-pointer of the game, giving the freshman 11 points in less than 10 minutes of play, to push Duke back in front by seven, 23-16.
The Blue Devils' double-digit lead, 30-20, was restored with a Khaman Maluach layup at the 6:34 mark. The back-and-forth swings continued, with SMU drawing back within four, 32-28, before Mason Gillis scored five quick points, forcing a timeout by the hosts with less than four minutes before halftime.
Duke finished the first half with a nine-point advantage, 41-32, and was led by Flagg's 15 first-half points. The Blue Devils posted four of the first six points following intermission, to take their largest lead of the game, 45-34. Flagg eclipsed 20 points, knocking down two free throws, to give the freshman his seventh 20-point game of the season.
Flagg continued the offensive surge, draining a three-pointer through contact. SMU was forced to call timeout, with Duke ahead by 17, 54-37. The lead expanded to nearly 20, 57-38, following a Knueppel three-pointer, but SMU quickly scored seven unanswered points to cut Duke's lead to just 12.
Duke responded to the burst, going back in front by over 20, 71-50, punctuated by a fast-break dunk from Gillis. The Blue Devils maintained its large lead for the remainder of the contest, en route to the final margin of 89-62.

NOTES

Head coach Jon Scheyer did not travel to Dallas, Texas, due to an illness, missing his first game as head coach of the Blue Devils. Associate head coach Chris Carrawell served as acting head coach for the first time in his seventh season on Duke's coaching staff.
With the win, Duke is now 4-1 all-time against SMU. The contest was the first between the two as conference foes and first meeting overall since the Blue Devils defeated the Mustangs, 97-79, in the 1988 NCAA Tournament.
The Blue Devils have now won four of their last five games played on Jan. 4, and own a 23-9 record on this date.
The fourth-ranked Blue Devils are now 301-92 (.766) in conference games when ranked as a top-five team in the country.
Saturday's game featured the ACC's top defense and top offense, with Duke entering the contest allowing just 59.0 points per game and SMU scoring 87.2 points per game.
Duke's defense continued its streak of holding unranked opponents to less than 65 points. SMU had scored 74 points or more in 12 of its first 13 games.
The 27-point margin marked SMU's largest loss since an 85-53 defeat at UCF on Jan. 8, 2023.
The Blue Devils ended the game with 11 made three-pointers, their third-straight game with double-digit makes from deep.
The Blue Devils won the rebounding battle, 43-42, and have out-rebounded 11 of their first 14 opponents this season.
Duke collected 42 points in the paint compared to 24 by the Mustangs. The Blue Devils have out-scored the opposition in the paint in 12 of their 14 games and have posted a double-digit margin in that category eight times this season.
The Blue Devils held the Mustangs to just five fast-break points, who entered the game averaging 16 fast-break points per game, which ranked 20th nationally. Duke opponents have logged single-digit fast-break points in all but two games this season.
In the first half, Duke dished 12 assists while committing just one turnover. The Blue Devils finished the game with 22 assists and seven turnovers, a season-best assist-turnover ratio of 3.1. The team's previous benchmark for assist-turnover ratio was 2.8 (11 assists, four turnovers) against Auburn on Dec. 4, 2024.
Duke has now connected on at least one 3-pointer in 1,239 straight games, the second-longest streak nationally.
Cooper Flagg scored 24 points, securing back-to-back 20-point games. Flagg poured in 15 points in the first half, the most he has scored in a first half this season. Flagg now has seven 20-point games across Duke's first 14 games of the campaign.
Flagg shot 7-of-12 (.583) overall from the field, including perfect showings from beyond the arc (2-for-2) and the free throw line (8-of-8).
The Newport, Maine native also reeled in 11 rebounds, increasing his season double-double total to five – four of those have been 20-point double-doubles – and dished three assists, blocked two shots and added one steal.
Tyrese Proctor scored 14 points, highlighted by a 4-of-7 (.571) shooting performance from deep. The junior helped Duke to a quick start on offense, scoring eight points in the opening minutes of the game, highlighted by two early three-pointers.
Proctor has made multiple three-pointers in 10 games this season, and has finished with at least three makes from deep in six of those games.
Kon Knueppel also reached double-digits with 14 points on 5-of-10 (.500) shooting. The freshman has scored at least 13 points in all four of Duke's road games this season and is averaging 14.3 points in those contests.
Sion James posted a season-high eight assists, with seven of those dimes coming in the opening frame. The graduate added six points and three rebounds. The eight helpers matches Kon Knueppel's eight against Kansas (Nov. 26, 2024) as the most assists by a Blue Devil this season.
Khaman Maluach pulled down eight caroms, the third such performance across the last four games.
Caleb Foster finished one point shy of a double-digit performance, scoring nine points on 4-of-6 (.667) from the field.

QUOTES

"I just want to shout out my guy, Coach [Jon] Scheyer, who I know wanted to be here. He was texting, calling, bothering us, because he cared so much. I want to thank our team, our coaching staff, Coach [Jai] Lucas, Coach [Emanuel] Dildy, Coach [Will] Avery, Coach [Mike] Schrage. They did an excellent job on the bench. And our players really came out today and played well on both ends from start to finish. Excellent job. Total team effort. Go Duke." - Duke associate head coach Chris Carrawell

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