NEW YORK — Cooper Flagg had 16 points in his Madison Square Garden debut and seven players scored in double figures for No. 3 Duke in a 110-67 blowout of Illinois on Saturday night.
Isaiah Evans paced the Blue Devils (24-3) with 17 points off the bench, and Kon Knueppel added 15. Duke built a 23-point lead in the first half and was never threatened while setting a season scoring high.
Flagg, the freshman expected to be the top pick in this year’s NBA draft, added seven rebounds and five assists in 23½ minutes. But the Blue Devils didn’t even need his best on this night to win for the 20th time in 21 games.
Tre White scored 16 points and Kasparas Jakučionis 14 for Illinois (17-11) in a nonconference matchup between programs that lost in the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament last year.
Takeaways
Illinois: Hampered recently by illnesses and an injury to forward Morez Johnson Jr., the Fighting Illini have faded following a 12-3 start. They’ve lost three straight — all by at least 14 points to teams ranked in the top 11 at the time.
Duke: Eyeing a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament, the Blue Devils boast one of the nation’s stingiest defenses. They delivered an outstanding performance on that end of the floor in their first game since defensive stopper Maliq Brown dislocated his left shoulder in Monday’s win at Virginia.
Key moment
After getting whistled for two fouls in the first 11:18 of a quiet first half, Flagg opened the second with a fast-break dunk. He added another jam minutes later and gave the Duke throng in a sellout crowd of 19,812 what it came to see.
Key stat
Illinois missed its first 17 attempts from 3-point range and finished 2-for-26 from beyond the arc. Duke, meanwhile, shot 55.6% overall and made 12 of 23 (52.2%) attempts from 3-point range.
Up next
Illinois: Will resume Big Ten play at home Tuesday night against Iowa.
Duke: Visit Miami on Tuesday night.
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