Cooper Flagg leads Duke to blowout win over rival North Carolina ...

DURHAM, N.C. -- In his first taste of the Duke-North Carolina rivalry, Cooper Flagg delivered arguably the most complete performance of his career to lead the Blue Devils to a dominant 87-70 victory.

Flagg scored or assisted on each of Duke's first six baskets as the Blue Devils raced to an early lead, and his final line -- 21 points, eight rebounds, seven assists, three steals and two blocks -- proved to be an emphatic debut in one of the country's great rivalries. It was also the latest example that, as head coach Jon Scheyer said, Flagg is a basketball "savant."

"It might be [my best college game]," Flagg said, "but for me, I'm just trying to make the right plays. Four of the first six baskets I assisted. That's huge for me to find my teammates and make plays for them."

If anything, the stellar performance still fell short of what Flagg might've done, Scheyer said afterward. Flagg played all but the final 47 seconds of the second half, and Scheyer said he thought his star freshman was worn down by the end, when Carolina cut Duke's lead from 32 with 9:04 to play to just 16 at the 2:59 mark.

Editor's Picks

1 Related

Flagg said he was angry with his -- and Duke's -- performance in that late stretch, despite the easy win.

"It was a little bit of me being tired and making some dumb mistakes at the end," Flagg said. "Being soft at the end kind of played into that."

Scheyer took full responsibility for Flagg's slow finish, despite noting that it's a rare accomplishment to post such gaudy numbers and still find room for criticism.

"He almost had a triple-double, and he wasn't quite himself [at the end]," Scheyer said. "But besides that segment, he was just in control the entire game. He makes everybody better around him, and it's a heck of a thing to have 21, eight and seven and you think he could've done more."

Flagg's ability to involve his teammates was at the forefront of Saturday's win. In just the first five minutes of action, he racked up four assists, two steals and a rebound.

Flagg's 21 was topped by fellow freshman Kon Knueppel, who had 22 points and five assists in the win.

Flagg and Knueppel are the first teammates to each tally 20 points and five assists in a game in this rivalry in 15 years. The last duo was Duke's Scheyer and Nolan Smith.

"They absolutely feed off each other," Scheyer said. "It starts with their competitiveness. They play both sides of the ball. They have high level feel. ... Add in their skill and versatility. Kon's posting and shooting and pick-and-roll. And everybody knows, Cooper's already doing everything. They have a great thing. There's a lot of maturity with both of them."

For all that maturity, however, this was still their first taste of Duke-Carolina. As a recruit, Flagg sat behind the Duke bench last season as the Tar Heels mustered an 84-79 win in Cameron Indoor Stadium. UNC players chirped at Duke's squad throughout, and Flagg said he remembered the Tar Heels taunting the Cameron Crazies after it was over, which he said added a bit of motivation this time around.

Flagg admitted to a few pregame nerves in an environment he described as "really loud and hot," but he said once the ball was tipped, he was locked on the action.

"You could definitely feel a different energy tonight," Flagg said. "For us, it's just another game. We came out and executed our game plan, did what we were trying to do, and came out with the win. It's another game, and we're chasing a big mission this year."