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Will Cooper Flagg’s Duke-UNC debut crack the top 10 freshman performances in rivalry history?
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DURHAM, N.C. – The pregame hype was off the charts. Even by Duke-North Carolina standards.
All eyes were on Zion Williamson on Feb. 21, 2019, including an ESPN camera dedicated specifically to following him, in hopes of seeing Duke’s freshman phenom do something memorable in his first game against rival North Carolina.
Williamson provided a memorable moment, all right. Just not the kind anyone was expecting.
The star forward suffered a knee injury 33 seconds into the game when his Nike sneaker broke as he planted his foot to make a move to the basket.
It was one of those “where were you?” kind of moments every college basketball fan remembers.
Including a 12-year-old 7th-grader named Cooper Flagg.
“I think everybody in the basketball world heard when Zion broke through his shoe,” Duke’s current freshman standout said after Monday night’s win against NC State.
Like Williamson, Flagg is a projected one-and-done player expected to be the No. 1 pick in this year’s NBA Draft. And his debut against the rival Tar Heels at Cameron Indoor Stadium on Saturday evening is generating much of the same kind of national attention.
Even ESPN College GameDay will be there to add to the hoopla.
But while Flagg is well aware of the history and emotion of the best, most intense rivalry in college sports, he’s at least publicly doing his best to avoid getting caught up in the craziness.
“It’s cool for people,” he said. “For me, it’s just another opportunity to be with my teammates and get better.”
Flagg is already pretty darn good.
The 6-9 freshman leads Duke in scoring (19.9 ppg), rebounds (8.0), assists (82), steals (29) and blocked shots (24). He’s been the ACC’s Rookie of the Week 8 times this season, including 5 of the past 6 weeks.
Although he has produced his share of SportsCenter top-10 highlights, including his massive tomahawk dunk against Pittsburgh, the strength of his game is his basketball IQ, unselfishness and willingness to do whatever Duke needs to help it win.
Considering his physical ability, recent hot streak and a UNC team that ranks 16th out of 18 in the ACC in scoring defense, all the elements are in place for Flagg to put up big numbers on Saturday and join these 10 performances as the best ever by a freshman in the rivalry’s history:
10. Michael Jordan, UNC, Jan. 16, 1982
Two months before introducing himself to the nation with his national championship-winning shot against Georgetown in New Orleans, Jordan introduced himself to Duke and its infamous student section by scoring a team-leading 19 points on 8-of-13 shooting to go along with 6 rebounds and 2 blocked shots in the Tar Heels’ 73-63 win in his first trip to Cameron. The Tar Heels had trouble getting the ball to the basket against the Blue Devils’ zone defense and trailed 32-31. But MJ scored 8 points in an 11-0 run early in the second half to help UNC take control.
9. Phil Ford, UNC, Feb. 12, 1975
Ford’s ballhandling ability and court awareness made him the perfect trigger man for Dean Smith’s famed Four Corners offense and the reasons the Hall of Fame coach trusted him enough to be a starter from the first game of his career. Ford’s debut against the Blue Devils came at the old Big Four Tournament in Greensboro. And although UNC lost 99-96 in overtime, the freshman phenom put on a show that foretold his future greatness. He finished with 22 points, including a driving layup with 8 seconds remaining in regulation to force OT. He also hit a pair of clutch free throws to give the Tar Heels the lead late in the extra period before Duke surged from behind to win in a wild finish that saw the teams combine for 8 points in the final 20 seconds.
8. Jon Scheyer, Duke, Feb, 7, 2007
Scheyer will be on the sidelines coaching Flagg and the Blue Devils on Saturday. But in 2007, as a slender freshman guard for Duke, he dropped 26 on the rival Tar Heels at Cameron. Despite his performance, which included 4 3-pointers, it wasn’t enough to prevent a 79-73 loss to UNC. In case you were wondering, Scheyer’s coaching counterpart Hubert Davis played only 18 minutes combined in 3 games against Duke as a freshman in 1989, scoring 8 points – all in UNC’s 91-71 win in Durham.
7. Rashad McCants/Raymond Felton, UNC, March 9, 2003
Tar Heel fans would just as soon forget the Matt Doherty era ever happened. But freshmen McCants and Felton combined to produce at least one memorable moment by leading an 82-79 upset of the 10th-ranked Blue Devils. McCants scored 26 points while Felton added 18 points, 10 assists and 8 rebounds to pull UNC through in a game that saw 21 lead changes and snap a 6-game losing streak in the rivalry. Although Doherty was fired at the end of the season, the win provided a glimpse into the future. Two seasons later, as juniors, McCants and Felton were the catalysts of a national championship run under Roy Williams.
6. Caleb Love, UNC, Feb. 6, 2021
It was a strange night at Cameron. The stands were empty because of the COVID pandemic and for the first time since 1960, neither the Tar Heels nor Blue Devils were ranked. But Love made it a night to remember for another reason. Every time UNC needed a basket, the freshman point guard delivered with either a big shot or an assist. He scored 25 points and handed out 7 dimes in a 91-87 Tar Heels victory that was the highest-scoring game between the rivals in 12 years.
5. Grant Hill, Duke, March 15, 1992
Hill combined to score only 18 points in the 2 regular season meetings – a win in Durham and a loss in Chapel Hill – as a secondary option to the dynamic duo of Christian Laettner and Bobby Hurley. But in the ACC Tournament championship game in Charlotte, he showed a glimpse of the brilliance that would make him an All-American in his own right by going 8-for-8 from the floor, scoring 20 points and handing out 7 assists in just 27 minutes off the bench in a 94-74 rout of the Tar Heels that set the stage for Duke’s second straight national title run.
4. Jabari Parker, Duke, March 19, 2014
Duke’s 2014 season is best remembered for the disappointment of its opening-round NCAA Tournament loss to Mercer in Raleigh. But 2 weeks earlier, in what would be his final home game, Parker left Cameron on a high note by hitting for a career-high 30 points and 11 rebounds to help the Blue Devils take down the Tar Heels. He went 10-of-17 from the floor, including a pair of 3-pointers, in leading Duke to a wire-to-wire 93-81 victory.
3. Austin Rivers, Duke, Feb. 8, 2012
There was no question who was going to take the last shot for the Blue Devils with the game on the line. Rivers had already hit 5 3-pointers to help Duke erase a 10-point deficit in the final 2 1/2 minutes on his way to 29 points. So even though the freshman guard was being defended by the Tar Heels’ 7-foot Tyler Zeller, he still calmly pulled up from beyond the arch and sank the jumper as the buzzer sounded to stun UNC and the Smith Center crowd. Rivers celebrated the 85-84 victory that ended the Tar Heels’ school-record 31-game home running streak by sprinting down the court with his teammates in close pursuit while his father, then-Boston Celtics coach Doc Rivers, danced in the stands.
2. Tyler Hansbrough, UNC, March 5, 2006
It was Senior Night at Cameron Indoor Stadium, But it was Hansbrough, along with freshman teammates Danny Green, Marcus Ginyard and Bobby Frasor, who stole the show. Hansbrough helped spoil the party for ACC Player of the Year JJ Redick. The young big man scored 19 of his 27 points in the second half, capping his performance by making a 3-pointer as the shot clock expired. He also grabbed 10 rebounds to lead the Tar Heels to an 83-76 victory. It was UNC’s first win in 5 years in Durham. But it wouldn’t be Hansbrough’s last. He turned Cameron into Hansbrough Indoor Stadium by going 4-0 on the Blue Devils’ home court.
1. Zion Williamson, Duke, March 15, 2019
After playing only 33 seconds against the Tar Heels at Cameron and missing the return match in Chapel Hill while still recovering from his injury, Williamson finally got his chance to contribute to the Duke-UNC rivalry in the ACC Tournament semifinals at Charlotte’s Spectrum Arena. It was his one and only game against UNC. And he made the most of it by capping a 31-point, 11-rebound effort with the game-winning tip-in in the final minute for a 74-73 victory that helped make up for losses in both regular season games and sent the Blue Devils on to coach Mike Krzyzewski’s 15th and final tournament title.
Award-winning columnist Brett Friedlander has covered the ACC and college basketball since the 1980s.
