Duke basketball freshman says showing against Arizona was 'first of many'

The Duke basketball team is talented. Very talented. And it showed late Friday night against No. 17 Arizona.

There were no injuries or cramping. Just the same consistent effort from the No. 12 Blue Devils for a full 40 minutes, resulting in a 69-55 victory.

Cooper Flagg, as expected, led the way for Duke with 24 points, six rebounds, three assists, a steal, and two blocks and shined in the second half after a struggling first half of shooting the basketball.

Kon Knueppel had a similar second half performance like Flagg, ending the night with 13 points on three made 3-pointers but it was the shooting of another rookie, Khaman Maluach, that might have impressed more than Flagg and Knueppel.

Maluach, in the first half, hit a corner 3-pointer that put the Blue Devils up 24-18. It was a stretch of six straight points scored by the freshman, which included an old fashioned 3-point play. He finished with eight points and three rebounds in 16 minutes but was looking for more after the final buzzer sounded.

"It felt great. First of many," Maluach said in the team's social media video after the victory. "Neal Begovich told me during the warmups that you'll hit one 3-[pointer]."

"I did exactly what he told me."

It was the first 3-pointer that Khaman Maluach hit this season. His only other attempt came against Army in the second game of the year, but has shown to have a jump shot away from the paint during offseason workouts and during his time with the South Sudan National Team.

Maluach is averaging 9.2 points, 6.2 rebounds, and 1.4 blocks per game this season while shooting 76.9-percent from the floor. He will have a major challenge in Duke's next game on Tuesday night against No. 1 Kansas behind All-American center Hunter Dickinson.