For more than 39 minutes, the nation’s most celebrated teenaged basketball prospect demonstrated why dozens of NBA scouts flocked to Atlanta to see him play.
Only in the final 20 seconds of Duke’s 77-72 loss to Kentucky did 17-year-old Cooper Flagg finally act his age.
With Duke’s nine-point second-half lead gone and the score now tied, Flagg seemed to sense it was his moment. He attacked 6-foot-11 Andrew Sarr off the dribble, used his body to create space and then started to rise for a mid-range jumper.
Everything was set up for Flagg to deliver a signature basket on the Champions Classic stage, but for one of the first times all night the Duke freshman failed to deliver. He never saw Otega Oweh leave his man, enabling the Kentucky guard to poke the ball away, streak down court and draw a foul as he went up for a potential go-ahead layup.
Flagg had a chance for redemption after Oweh sank two foul shots, but the Duke freshman lost control of the ball as he tried to take Kentucky 7-footer Amari Williams off the dribble. He lay flat on his back in disbelief until two teammates came over to help him up.
That would have been bad enough for Flagg, but it somehow got worse when Kentucky’s Lamont Butler went to the foul line to try to clinch the victory with 5.1 seconds remaining. Flagg failed to box out Oweh after Butler missed the second of two free throws, squandering Duke’s chance at a last-gasp 3-pointer to tie the game.
Flagg led both teams with 26 points and 12 rebounds. He was the best player on the floor for either team until the final minute.
