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Cooper Flagg may be the top player in the country, but Kansas is the top-ranked team.
And the Jayhawks proved why Tuesday.
No. 1 Kansas defeated Flagg and the No. 11 Duke Blue Devils 75-72 in a highly anticipated showdown at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Duke had multiple opportunities in crunch time, but Kon Knueppel turned it over and missed a three on the team’s last two possessions in the final seconds.
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KON KNUEPPEL ALMOST TIED IT AT THE BUZZER 😱
No. 1 Kansas holds on against No. 11 Duke 😤 pic.twitter.com/CDPmLBiSYI
Flagg didn’t touch the ball on either possession, although he also had a turnover in the final minute.
As a result, Kansas improved to 6-0 and now has wins over Duke, North Carolina and Michigan State, which will surely pay dividends come Selection Sunday. Tuesday’s victory was all the more impressive because Hunter Dickinson was ejected in the second half, but Dajuan Harris Jr. picked up the slack with 14 points, nine assists, three rebounds and three steals.
As for the Blue Devils, they fell to 4-2 with losses to Kansas and Kentucky, although they do have a marquee win over Arizona.
Flagg was solid with 13 points, five rebounds and three assists on 5-of-9 shooting, but social media questioned why he didn’t have the ball at the end when Knueppel ended up 0-of-8 from three-point range:
All eyes in the college basketball world were on Las Vegas to see what the potential No. 1 pick would do against the No. 1 team in a game that felt more like the Elite Eight than the regular season in November, but he took a backseat in the early going.
Flagg had just two points at halftime, which was somewhat of a testament to his unselfishness and also the result of the additional defensive attention the Jayhawks threw his way.
It was only a matter of time before he had an impact, though, and he fed off the additional intensity on the floor and in the crowd after Dickinson was ejected for kicking Maliq Brown in the head as they fell to the ground battling for the ball.
Flagg responded with a monster slam in the lane and another dunk down the stretch, and it seemed like the Blue Devils would finally seize control with the Jayhawks’ veteran big no longer on the court.
Yet Rylan Griffen responded with six straight points, and a Zeke Mayo jumper in the last two minutes gave Kansas the lead after Flagg tied it with a layup.
That was the final field goal of the game as both teams went cold in the last minute, which is all the Jayhawks needed to clinch the win.
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