Duke basketball: Was it the right call to put the ball in Flagg's hands in final seconds against Kentucky?

#6 Duke suffered a 77-72 loss to #19 Kentucky last night in the State Farm Champions Classic. The Blue Devils let go of a 46-37 halftime lead and were completely outworked in the second half by the Wildcats.

The second half was a complete flip of the switch offensively for Duke, as no one outside freshman Cooper Flagg provided any shot-making.

Tyrese Proctor scored just two points in the second half after ten first half points. Kon Knueppel went 1-for-8 from three. Duke as a team went just 1-for-11 from three in the second half.

Flagg was asked about the difference of the offense from the first and second halves postgame.

"I mean it could've got a little stagnant at times. I think a lot of it was defense. There was a lot of miscommunications on defense that led to some easy stuff for them. So I mean, transition offense is a lot easier than playing in the half court the whole half. So, I think we kind of slowed it down a little bit back led to that."

Despite losing all steam towards the end of the game, the Blue Devils still sat in a tie game with about thirty seconds to go and the ball. Jon Scheyer called a timeout and everyone in the arena knew who the ball would be going to.

Flagg had 26 points in the game and had gotten to the rim with ease all night. It made sense to get him the ball.

After the timeout, the ball was inbounded to Flagg just above half court and he tried to make a play. There was no special action, just Flagg trying to get by his defender by himself. Upon a drive, Flagg lost control of the ball and it was stolen by Kentucky's Otega Oweh who would make both free throws at the other end.

Duke still had one more chance, but with no timeouts they were forced to bring the ball straight up after the made free throws. Again, the ball was given right to Flagg and he tried to make a play. Flagg immediately was pushed to the baseline, cornered into his own triple team. He lost control again and turned the ball over.

So the Wildcats went on to win the game 77-72. It was a game the Blue Devils absolutely should've won, but looked like an offense that had all its juiced squeezed out in the second half.

But after still being in a tie with about thirty seconds to go, it makes fans wonder if it was the right call to just give it to Flagg and tell him to make a play.

I get how good he is and how he's a generational prospect. Flagg finished with 26 points, 12 rebounds, 2 assists, and 2 blocks in his third college game ever on national television against Kentucky. He's the leader of this Duke team. But was he ready for that moment?

Flagg is still 17 years old and, like I just said, this was his third college basketball game ever. He's never been in a moment like this before and was told to just go make a play and win his team the game on that stage.

That's not to say Flagg can't handle pressure like that. He's had this much attention to his name for years now, there's no question he can handle it. But as I stood up in disappointment after the loss last night, I couldn't help but wonder if that was the right play.

Granted, if Duke came out of the timeout with a set to get Flagg the ball and get him a shot to win, that's a different story. Flagg was the only consistent shot maker Duke had in that second half. A set play to find him open or give him a lane would've been perfect. But telling Flagg to just go win his team the game this early on in the season is a tough ask, and his two opportunities to do so resulted in two turnovers.

Obviously, there were so many other reasons the Blue Devils lost that game, mainly just the inability to make shots down the stretch. But, it'll be interesting to watch how Jon Scheyer might call that play differently if at all next time Duke is in that situation.

Jon Scheyer talked postgame about what he was looking to get out of that final timeout.

"The ball in his (Flagg's) hands. I think they knew that was happening too and I'm okay with that and, we're going to be in these moments a lot together and I trust his instincts and, I probably could've put him in a better position to be honest..He willed us in that game."

The Blue Devils look to bounce back when they host Wofford this Saturday at 12:00pm EDT.