By Brian Murphy, WRAL

Baylor Bears	66
1Duke Blue Devils	89
Final

Star Cooper Flagg, hot shooting guard Tyrese Proctor and top-seeded Duke shook off early foul trouble and a first-half fight from Baylor and rolled to a convincing victory in the second round of the NCAA Tournament in Raleigh.

Flagg had 18 points, nine rebounds and six assists and Proctor set a career-best with seven 3-pointers as Duke won 89-66. The Blue Devils (33-3) will meet the winner of No. 4 seed Arizona and No. 5 seed Oregon in the Sweet 16 in Newark, New Jersey, on Thursday.

“For us to win by this margin, I think speaks to the level of killer instinct that our guys have,” Duke coach Jon Scheyer said.

Baylor led 24-23 with 7:56 remaining in the first half, but Duke ended the half with a 24-6 run and never looked back. At halftime, Scheyer challenged his team to put away Baylor, referencing Duke’s second-half struggles in earlier games — Notre Dame, vs. North Carolina in the ACC Tournament — where it had a big lead.

“You have one season with this group, you try to use the experiences we’ve had,” Scheyer said. “I’ll reference it. I’ll reference those games at halftime just to make sure we know how precious it is.”

Said Baylor coach Scott Drew: “That last eight minutes, I beat myself up as a coach. Should have done some different things, burned all the timeouts, played Norchad [Omier], try to run longer offense.”

The Blue Devils poured it on Sunday, extending their edge to as many as 25 in the second half.

Flagg was poked in the right eye early in the game and picked up two fouls in the first half. Scheyer put him back in the game with the two fouls, though he did have a conversation with his star freshman on the sidelines late in the half, making him promise not to pick up a third.

Flagg scored 15 points in 14 first-half minutes and slammed home an alley-oop from Sion James with less than a minute left in the first half, a fitting exclamation point for the Blue Devils, who scored the final 12 points of the half.

“I told him, we were all good, and we were able to make that run,” Flagg said.

Proctor has been better than good over the last three games. He scored a game-high 25 points on 7-of-8 shooting from 3 and 9-of-10 from the field.

He has made 19-of-30 3-pointers over the last three games, going 6-for-14 against Louisville in the ACC Tournament title game and 6-for-8 against Mount St. Mary’s in the NCAA Tournament opener.

He was 0-for-10 in the previous two games.

“Just sticking with it, putting in the work,” Proctor said of the turnaround. “Just trusting myself is the big thing.”

Proctor is just one of two returnees on the Blue Devils’ roster and that wasn’t guaranteed after an uneven sophomore season in Durham.

“I was not in a convincing mode I think after that season,” Scheyer said. “I was just matter of fact, where I saw it for him and the opportunity. We had honest conversations like we always do. But I think the difference is for a guy in that position to take it, as opposed to making excuses or running away from it, I think that’s the special part.”

Proctor is shooting a career-high percentage from the floor and from 3-point range and averaging a career-best 12.2 points entering the game.

“I’ve never been a person to sort of jump off a ship in a sense,” he said. “Just trusting myself, obviously trusting Coach Scheyer and the program here. Everyone’s on a different journey, whether it’s one year, two years, three years, four years, just making sure I’m level-headed and always trying to get better every day.”

Duke made 19-of-23 free-throw attempts, including 16-of-19 in the first half.

Former Duke player Jeremy Roach, a key reserve with Baylor, had seven points and three rebounds in his final college game. Scheyer said he told his former player that he loved him during the postgame handshake line.

It is the second straight trip to the Sweet 16 for Duke, which reached the Elite Eight last season before losing to NC State. It is Duke’s 10th Sweet 16 since 2010.

“Enjoy the performance we just had and the game we just won, but there is definitely that pressure of moving on quickly and starting to prepare for the next one,” Flagg said.

Earlier, No. 1 seed Florida defeated No. 8 seed UConn, which has won the last two national championships, 77-75 in Sunday’s first game in Raleigh.

Pregame

Scheyer on Roach: ‘A Duke guy forever’

Top-seeded Duke takes on No. 9 seed Baylor and former Blue Devils guard Jeremy Roach in the second round of the NCAA Tournament on Sunday at the Lenovo Center in Raleigh.

Duke (32-3) is seeking a second straight trip to the Sweet 16, while Baylor (20-14) its first Sweet 16 appearance since 2021 when the Bears won the national championship.

Roach played four seasons for Duke, a career that spanned the transition from former coach Mike Krzyzewski to current coach Jon Scheyer. Roach transferred to Baylor in the offseason for his final season after conversations with Scheyer.

“It was handled with love, honesty, and we just felt mutually both ways that it was the best thing for him in his career, and obviously just where we had to go because of that,” Scheyer said. “I have nothing but love for Jeremy, and our relationship is strong. He’ll be a Duke guy forever.”

Roach has suffered two concussions this season with Baylor. He is averaging 10.1 points per game for the Bears, below his career high of 14.0 points per game last year at Duke. Roach said he keeps in contact with several former teammates and the Blue Devils’ coaches.

He wasn’t surprised to see Duke and Baylor in the same bracket.

“Knowing the committee, they like a story,” Roach said.

Path to the second round

Duke defeated No. 16 seed Mount St. Mary’s in the first round in Raleigh. Star freshman Cooper Flagg returned to the lineup after missing Duke’s final two games of the ACC Tournament with an ankle injury. Flagg had 14 points, seven rebounds and four assists in 22 minutes for Duke.

Baylor beat No. 8 seed Mississippi State in the first round in Raleigh.

Scheyer’s most memorable game

Scheyer, a former Duke player, called the Blue Devils’ 2010 victory against Baylor in the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament “probably the most important game I ever played in, to be honest.”

“That was kind of the making of four years,” he said. “To get over the hump for us of getting to a Final Four, that was a special thing.”

The Duke team would reach the Final Four and win the national championship. Scheyer made five 3-pointers in the game en route to 20 points in the 78-71 win. He had five rebounds and four assists and played all 40 minutes in the game.

“I remember the whole game was back and forth,” Scheyer said. “It was such a high-level game. Really for me it’s the most memorable game I probably played in because of the respect for those guys, how good they were. Then the nature of the game, just how it went down to the wire.”

Records: Baylor Bears (20-14, 11-11 Big 12) vs. Duke Blue Devils (32-3, 22-1 ACC)

Where: Lenovo Center, Raleigh

When: Sunday, 2:40 p.m. EDT

BETMGM SPORTSBOOK LINE: Blue Devils -12.5; over/under is 144.5

BOTTOM LINE: No. 1 Duke takes on Baylor in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

The Blue Devils have gone 22-1 against ACC opponents, with a 10-2 record in non-conference play. Duke has a 27-0 record in games decided by 10 points or more.

The Bears are 11-11 against Big 12 teams. Baylor is 4-4 in games decided by less than 4 points.

Duke scores 83.0 points, 13.8 more per game than the 69.2 Baylor allows. Baylor scores 14.9 more points per game (76.4) than Duke allows to opponents (61.5).

TOP PERFORMERS: Cooper Flagg is averaging 18.7 points, 7.5 rebounds, 4.1 assists and 1.5 steals for the Blue Devils. Isaiah Evans is averaging 2.5 made 3-pointers over the last 10 games.

Jayden Nunn averages 1.9 made 3-pointers per game for the Bears, scoring 8.8 points while shooting 40.9% from beyond the arc. Norchad Omier is averaging 16 points and 12.5 rebounds over the last 10 games.

LAST 10 GAMES: Blue Devils: 10-0, averaging 88.0 points, 36.9 rebounds, 17.3 assists, 6.8 steals and 4.6 blocks per game while shooting 49.8% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 63.5 points per game.

Bears: 5-5, averaging 69.4 points, 32.0 rebounds, 12.7 assists, 7.1 steals and 2.5 blocks per game while shooting 41.1% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 67.8 points.

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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.

Source: wralsportsfan.com