Kentucky’s late-game defense on Cooper Flagg sealed the win over Duke

Duke’s Cooper Flagg is more than likely going to end up being the No. 1 pick in the 2025 NBA Draft. The 17-year-old freshman is a future multi-millionaire who will enjoy a fruitful career at the professional level. He went for 26 points and 12 rebounds in his first high-profile game as a college player, looking every bit the part of a generational prospect.

But did you see him turn the ball over against Kentucky in a tie game with 15 seconds left? Did you see him turn the ball over again with five seconds left and his team down two?

Kentucky’s Otega Oweh and Amari Williams, who helped force those turnovers, sure did.

Flagg will still go on to do big things in the world of basketball, but on Tuesday night in Atlanta, his inexperience was bested by Kentucky’s veterans. The future face of the NBA looked shell-shocked down the stretch against a group of Wildcats that had never played a real game together until a few weeks ago.

Kentucky’s defense deserves a ton of credit for making it happen.

Kentucky players certainly heard the noise coming into this massive showdown. Flagg is one of three projected lottery picks on Duke’s roster, not to mention the handful of other Blue Devils expected to hear their names called at some point next June. They wouldn’t admit this game came with any extra juice though.

“I wouldn’t say extra motivation, because we try just to look at every game like it’s a normal game. We prepare the same way. We trust in the work that we do every single day. But we also know the history behind this rivalry,” Oweh said postgame. “Obviously we wanted to put on and do well for Big Blue Nation. But we really just wanted to go out and do the things we know we can do. Just stay solid, stick to our principles, and if we do that, we’re gonna get a win.”

It wasn’t just Flagg, who shot 9-19 from the floor, that struggled at times against Kentucky’s defense. Kon Knueppel, also a likely future Top 10 NBA Draft pick, finished his night with a poor 5-20 shooting clip, including a 1-8 mark after halftime. He failed to make a field goal for the final 16+ minutes of the second half. With Oweh helping lead the charge, Kentucky’s defense simply wore down Duke’s youth.

In fact, the Wildcats’ willingness to dig in on that end of the floor in the second half is the real reason Kentucky won this game. After giving up 46 first-half points, UK allowed just 26 after the intermission. Duke shot under 30 percent from the floor and made just one of its nine three-point attempts to reach those 26 points. The Blue Devils coughed the ball up six times after halftime compared to just one turnover throughout the first 20 minutes of action.

Having a plethora of five-star freshmen on a roster comes with plenty of good, but Kentucky fans almost forgot what it’s like to be on the other end; to have a group of older guys grind out a win early in the season. Duke led for over 27 minutes and held an eight-point advantage with 10 minutes left in the game.

But it was freshman mistakes that ultimately cost them the win. Kentucky’s defense caused those mistakes in the first place — none bigger than the two against the most hyped player in the country.

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