Cooper Flagg looks just fine in injury return as Duke cruises to start March Madness
RALEIGH, N.C.— It looked too easy on paper, and it proved to be exactly that on the hardwood.No.
1 seeded Duke dismantled No.16 seeded Mount St.
Mary’s, 93-49, in Friday’s NCAA Tournament first-round game at Lenovo Center.For the Blue Devils (32-3), this served merely as a glorified practice, a scrimmage, a warm-up for their star freshman forward Cooper Flagg to test out his sprained left ankle and gain some confidence in it as Duke prepares to go deep into the tournament against more formidable opponents.Duke’s victory earned it a second-round matchup against Baylor, which outlasted Mississippi State in a 75-72 rock fight before the Blue Devils took the same court in the second game of the afternoon doubleheader.Baylor, a No.9 seed with a 20-14 record, entered the NCAA Tournament having lost six of its previous 10 games.Mount St.
Mary’s, which defeated Iona in its conference final last weekend and made it through the First Four in Dayton with a win over American, never had a chance Friday.Duke led 13-2 three minutes in after a Tyrese Proctor 3-pointer.Duke took a 22-6 lead with 12:19 remaining in the first half on a Flagg dunk.The lead ballooned to 28-12 with 9:52 remaining in the first on a Flagg layup.When Proctor buried a trey with 7:01 remaining, it was 38-18 Duke.A Sion James 3-pointer with 4:59 remaining in the first made it 44-22.Want to tune into as much March Madness as you can? DIRECTV Stream and Hulu + Live TV both have you covered with every channel you’ll need, plus free trials.A Caleb Foster free throw with 2:05 remaining in the first gave Duke its largest lead of the half — 27 points, at 51-24.The pregame betting line had Duke favored by 32 ½. With two minutes remaining in the first half, the Blue Devils led by 27 and appeared on their way to covering the spread by the intermission.It actually felt like a bit much, overkill if you will, when Duke’s Patrick Ngongba scored on a tip-in at the buzzer to close the first half, which en...