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Duke defeated Auburn 84-78 in Durham on Wednesday night, earning a much-needed victory for the ACC in the SEC/ACC Challenge.
The win won’t be enough to tip the scales in the ACC’s favor in that challenge, but it is a huge triumph for the Blue Devils as they stake their claim as one of the nation’s best teams.
Here are 3 takeaways from Duke’s victory:
Cooper Flagg’s ascendance continues
Cooper Flagg has lived up to every bit of the preseason hype he carried so far in 2024-25 and he had another awesome game on Wednesday night at Cameron. He led Duke with 22 points while also piling up 11 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 steals and 2 blocks. He also did all of that without turning it over against one of the nation’s best defenses in Auburn.
Flagg, still just 17 years old for another couple of weeks, has been one of the best players in college basketball this season. He’s certainly been the best player on a Duke team that looks like a legitimate Final Four contender.
If you had one thing to quibble with, it’s his lack of offensive efficiency. He entered the night with a true shooting percentage just under 53% and needed 18 shots to get to his 22 points against the Tigers. But the motor is non-stop, the defense is elite and there’s every reason to believe the shot creation stuff will develop over the course of his freshman year. Even if it never does, Duke proved on Wednesday night that it’s a serious threat to win it all.
Other players stepped up, too
The story of Duke’s season so far has been its elite performance on the defensive end of the floor. That was put to the test on Wednesday night against Auburn, who entered the night ranked No. 1 in BartTorvik’s adjusted offensive efficiency formula.
Despite the loss, Auburn still scored roughly 1.25 points per possession, which is an elite mark. A big part of that could fall to shooting variance — the Tigers made 40% of their 3-point attempts in this game — but it still gave Duke a tough hill to climb given that Auburn’s offense was rolling.
In addition Flagg, 3 other Duke players scored in double figures. The biggest performance arguably came from Isaiah Evans, who scored 18 points off the bench. Evans was red-hot from downtown as he scored 6-of-8 3-point attempts from long range. The freshman guard is now shooting a whopping 50% on 3-pointers so far this season. He was a team-high +16 in the win.
Points off turnovers
Perhaps the biggest differentiator between Duke and Auburn on Wednesday night came in transition. Duke out-scored Auburn 13-1 off turnovers and had a 16-0 advantage in fast-break points.
The Blue Devils only had 4 turnovers in the entire game, which speaks to excellent guard play from Tyrese Proctor, Sion James and Kon Knueppel, amongst others.
According to Radar360, 4 turnovers is the fewest Duke has had in any game since Jan. 13, 2024. That day, the Blue Devils also turned it over just 4 times in a close win over Georgia Tech.
Duke will face Louisville in its ACC opener on Sunday afternoon.
Spenser is a news editor for Saturday Down South and covers college football across all Saturday Football brands.
