On Saturday night the #2 Duke Blue Devils welcomed in longtime rival North Carolina for their first matchup of two this season.
Duke freshman star Cooper Flagg got to get a taste of the Duke and North Carolina rivalry for the first time in his career. Duke was led by Flagg and fellow freshman Kon Knueppel who were sensational in Duke's blowout win.
Knueppel finished the game with 22 points, five rebounds and five assists. Flagg followed his performance scoring 21 points to go along with eight rebounds and seven assists.
A big story besides the offense for Duke was their defense, which has been an issue for teams this year so far causing them issues to get inside and score. Especially with the presence of Khaman Maluach who is 7'2''.
Duke led 47-25 at halftime. The 22-point halftime lead on the Tar Heels made it really tough for them to mount a comeback.
In the second half of the game Duke came out strong and continued to build the lead, but North Carolina did pick up the pace and started scoring, led by senior RJ Davis who ended the game with 12 points, five rebounds, and two assists.
North Carolina outscored Duke in the second half 45-40, but Duke prevailed and came out with a pretty convincing win by a score of 87-70 in the first of two matchups between the clubs this year.
Duke (19-2, 11-0 in the ACC) now will travel to upstate New York to take on Syracuse (10-12, 4-7) on Wednesday night at 7:00. That game will be televised on ESPN2.