The Duke Blue Devils (30-3, 19-1 ACC) survived a thriller in the ACC Tournament semifinals over rival North Carolina (22-13, 13-7 ACC) last night without freshman superstar Cooper Flagg. The Blue Devils won the contest 74-71 after a potential game-tying free throw by the Tar Heels was wiped away due to a lane violation.
This was the third meeting between the Blue Devils and the Tar Heels, and Duke won all three. Jon Scheyer's club won 87-70 over the Heels in Cameron Indoor earlier this season and 82-69 in Chapel Hill last week.
The Blue Devils were without their star player, Flagg, after the freshman sustained an ankle injury in Duke's 78-70 ACC Tournament quarterfinals victory over Georgia Tech on Thursday.
With the absence of Flagg, Duke's freshmen stepped up and picked up the slack left without the freshman phenom Flagg.
Kon Knueppel has been on an elite stretch over his last slew of games, taking the scoring lead without Flagg to do it. The talented freshman finished with 17 points last night on 5-of-11 shooting from the field and 3-of-5 shooting from three-point range.
This is on the back half of a 28-point performance for Knueppel on Thursday against the Yellow Jackets, and the freshman has now been on an absolute roll over his last eight games. He's now averaging 18.1 points per game on 50% shooting from three-point range over his last eight.
Another freshman played his part in the win with extended minutes, as Patrick Ngongba II saw increased time on the floor with Maliq Brown being out for the Blue Devils as well.
The freshman center finished the game against UNC with 12 points on 6-of-6 shooting from the field in 17 minutes off the bench.
Brown's timetable for a return is unclear at the moment, but Ngongba stepped up in a big way in his absence.
Duke will now play for an ACC Tournament championship today against the 2-seeded Louisville Cardinals (27-6, 18-2 ACC) at 7:30pm ET on ESPN. The Blue Devils and Cardinals have met once this season at the KFC Yum! Center where the Blue Devils won 76-65.
ACC Coach of the Year Pat Kelsey will face off against the coach that many say was snubbed of the award, Jon Scheyer, today in Charlotte, North Carolina.