Cooper Flagg creates history by becoming the first NCAA player to be invited to Prestigious with Newark. On Thursday night, Caleb Love was exerting every effort to keep the Arizona Wildcats in their Sweet 16 match.
Love was carrying his Cats as best he could, a seasoned Duke Blue Devils killer who had scored 20 points or more against them three times as a member of the North Carolina Tar Heels. In a heroic performance, the veteran guard looked like a one-man band as he scored 35 points, driving the lane for smooth layups, making five three-pointers, and going 8 of 9 at the line.
The issue facing Love, as well as the rest of college basketball this season, is that the Blue Devils’ version that would typically be vulnerable to a supernova performance is no longer in existence.
The Duke who was able to guarantee a spot in the Elite Eight
“I believed that our team produced several really successful plays. a great deal of pressure to perform. Coach Jon Scheyer stated, “[Arizona] just wouldn’t go away, even with a 19-point lead.” “I felt that our guys made just enough plays and made some clutch free throws.” Getting stops for anything in this game was obviously difficult, but sometimes that’s just the way things go. I am really proud.
He should be proud because the Blue Devils are not only adaptable enough to quickly gain a 19-point lead, but they are also wise enough to hang on for a victory even as the pressure of the NCAA tournament mounts. They ended the game with a four-minute field goal drought, but Arizona made over a dozen critical free throws to cut the deficit to just one point.
The three possible NBA draft lottery choices who scored in double digits would witness to their brilliance, which helped to balance out a quiet evening for Tyrese Proctor, the once-ferocious guard, who only managed seven points and one 3-pointer.
As seen by striker Maliq Brown’s return to activity after only two weeks of shoulder separation, they are tough.
For players like rookies Kon Knueppel and Patrick Ngongba, they can physically take punches under the basket at times, but they can still get up and strike back.
“We’ve established a whole season of education and trust. And we’ve learnt to be emotionally and physically tough for these occasions because of everything we’ve done from April 1 to now over the offseason,” Scheyer added. “I felt that poise was displayed by our guys.” I believe they demonstrated that unity. They don’t feel scared. You want to hire that, but you won’t know for sure until they arrive.
Since they have dominated practically all of their opponents this season, this instinct has primarily shown itself in incredible runs. A once-close game becomes a farce when a few spurts here and there are followed by an amazing scoring spree.
At times, it brought to mind the Golden State Warriors during their heyday with the infamous Death Lineup. There are instances when you just wouldn’t realize what had happened until it was finished.
That appeared to be the case once more in the second half, right before the under-12 stoppage. Incredibly, Duke was shooting 70% from the field to reach the 70 points on the scoreboard.
Seventy percent, no less during the tournament’s second weekend.
There were several moments as well, such Cooper Flagg’s three-pointer right before the halftime buzzer, to which the audience and he both responded passionately. That long triple set off a 19–7 run in only six minutes to take control of the scoreboard and the mood in the stadium after Arizona knotted the game at 42. is much more scary to consider, having defeated the Wildcats 100-93 at the Prudential Center in the East Regional.
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