DURHAM, North Carolina — The University of Maine knew all about native son Cooper Flagg coming into Monday night’s opener. But it was another Duke freshman who stole the show for the Blue Devils.
Duke’s Kon Knueppel played spoiler in the Black Bears season opener, scoring a team-high 22 points in the 96-62 Blue Devils’ victory at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
Maine (0-1) was led by Quion Burns who scored 15 points, but No. 7 Duke (1-0) outscored the Black Bears 52-29 in the second half to pull away.
Flagg, the Newport native who grew up 35 minutes from UMaine’s campus, shook off a slow start to finish with 18 points in his official college basketball debut, on 6-for-15 shooting. Flagg also added seven rebounds, five assists and three steals.
“It was a little more emotional walking out and seeing Maine across their chest,” Flagg said after the game. “Obviously, that’s a team I grew up watching when I was young. Seeing them gave me a lot more emotions and knowing it was the first real game.”
Flagg scored 22 and 9 points in exhibitions against Division II Lincoln (Pa.) and Arizona State, respectively. He scored his 9th and 10th point with a pair of free throws in the second half against UMaine to give him his first official double-digit game.
Maine shot 25% from the floor in the second half, not doing themselves any favor after hanging within striking distance in the first half.
The Black Bears trailed by single digits late in the first half, but never got closer than 10 after intermission. Nine of the 11 players who saw action for Maine scored at least two points, but not even that group effort could overcome the Duke offensive attack led by Knueppel and Flagg. The Blue Devils finished with five players in double digits.
Flagg, the projected No. 1 pick in the 2025 NBA Draft and No. 1 rated player in college basketball according to ESPN, had six points in the first half.
His strong second half performance was punctuated by a two-handed slam on a fast break, followed by a pair of free throws.
That ballooned the score to a 26-point Duke lead with 5:49 remaining.
Maine falls to 0-2 in all-time meetings versus the Blue Devils, who won the previous matchup 94-55 in December of 2016.
Flagg admitted he felt nerves, along with excitement, coming into the opener. In the old days, college basketball veterans sometimes would get a homecoming game, returning to their home state for a contest.
Flagg’s came to him in his college debut. Growing up, Black Bears basketball was where Flagg would go to see live games. He was a fan as a kid, who said he “dreamed of going there” which made it extra emotional.
After the game Flagg and Maine head coach Chris Markwood, a former Black Bears player, exchanged a handshake in the hallway. It’s not lost on Markwood how much the state means to Flagg and what type of ambassador he’s been.
“It’s an amazing story,” Markwood said. “If you knew where’s from, how small the town is, it’s 30 minutes from our campus, it’s a storybook thing that’s going on with him right now and the whole state is really behind him and excited for him and rooting for him. I think we’re all in a little bit of awe because you just don’t see it a lot in the state of Maine. He’s got a whole state behind him.”
Markwood joked that he wished Flagg would have gotten his career off to a slower start. The game did start slow for Flagg, who didn’t score his first point until nearly eight minutes had passed in the game. The 6-foot-9 freshman didn’t panic, waiting on whatever the defense gave him.
He did have two of his five assists in the opening minutes. Flagg had two highlight dunks, one in each half, that will surely make the social media rounds the next 24 hours. Duke head coach Jon Scheyer realized there would be some pregame jitters from Flagg, but thought he handled it well.
“That’s who Cooper is,” Scheyer said. “I’m proud of him for impacting the game and playing every possession. The thing that’s exciting for me is just how he makes everybody better.”