Alabama is very aware of what Cooper Flagg can do on the basketball court and how he impacts winning at all phases for the Duke basketball team.
Flagg put that brilliance on display in the Sweet 16 against Arizona with 30 points and seven assists on 9-of-19 shooting from the floor and 3-of-5 from 3-point range.
He could be in store for another incredible performance like that in the Elite 8 against the Crimson Tide with a trip to the Final Four on the line, but Nate Oats is hoping his team is ready to limit Duke outside of the National Freshman of the Year.
“We're going to have to do our best,” he said on Friday during his media availability. “But he's also one of those guys that…you're not going to hold him down to 10 points. That's just not happening.”
Not including the ACC Tournament game in which Flagg was injured in the first half and didn’t return, he only scored in single digits three times during his freshman season – all of which came against mid-major opponents in which Duke won by at least 22 points.
“He's going to find his way to score some buckets,” Oats added.
Many people do not speak glowingly about Alabama’s defense, especially after it just surrendered 88 points against BYU despite still winning by 25 points, but it is a Top-30 unit according to KenPom’s defensive metrics.
However, Oats might be willing to let Flagg have an incredible individual game but not let him set up his teammates for easy baskets like he has been doing all season.
“What you can't have is him scoring 25 and getting eight, nine, ten assists and picking up all these fouls. You're going to have to decide what you want to do, and some of their guys you'd better not help very far off because they can really shoot it.”
The Blue Devils connected on 11-of-19 3-pointers against the Wildcats and shot 60-percent from the field.
“If you just do the same thing with them all the time, he's smart enough to figure it out pretty quick,” Oats added.
“He's as good a passer as he is a scorer, and we all know how good of a scorer he is. He makes it hard to guard because you can't really load up on him because they've got shooting around him. If you don't load up on him, he's hard to guard one-on-one.”
The chess match between Nate Oats, Jon Scheyer, and Cooper Flagg will commence at 8:49 p.m. ET (TBS) in the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey.