New York City: The Duke Blue Devils annihilated the Illinois Fighting Illini in Madison Square Garden in a marquee non-conference matchup between the ACC and the Big 10, 110-67. This is the second time the Blue Devils scored over 100 points this week as they beat the Stanford Cardinal last Saturday 106-67. This is the Illini’s worst loss in program history.
The Blue Devils got off to a hot start behind the play of veteran transfer guard Sion James. He made his first two three point shot attempts that gave the Blue Devils a quick 8-2 lead. The Illini got the lead down to 4 a few times throughout the first half but could not break through the Blue Devils lead. Duke led the game wire-to-wire.
An important note for the Blue Devils is that they had to play extended periods with Cooper Flagg on the bench in the first half. He picked up his second foul around the 9 minute mark of the first half with the Blue Devils leading 30-18. The Blue Devils were able to finish the half scoring 24 more points and not getting Flagg into any more foul trouble. The Blue Devils took a 54-37 lead into the halftime break.
The wheels fell off for the Illini in the second half. Duke’s defensive pressure aligned with their offensive potency ran a good Illinois team out of the gym. The Blue Devils led by 45 points at one point towards the end of the second stanza.
Coach Scheyer of Duke once again shuffled his lineup outside the starting five. With the absence of Maliq Brown for an indefinite time period due to a dislocated shoulder, Scheyer changed his rotation off the bench. His first two subs had been Brown and Mason Gillis, both veteran transfers, for the majority of the season. Coach Scheyer turned to true freshman Isiah Evans to be first off the Duke bench against the Illini and he did not disappoint. Evans went 3-5 from three and 5-8 from the field overall to lead the Duke team in scoring with 17 points in his second consecutive game.
In his Madison Square Garden debut, the “Maine Event”- Cooper Flagg- scored 16 points, grabbed 7 rebounds, and 5 assists in 23 minutes of playing time. 7 Blue Devils reached double figures: Khaman Maluach with 13, Kon Knueppel with 15, Tyrese Proctor with 12, Sion James with 11, and Calab Foster with 12. The Blue Devils played the entire squad including crowd favorite walk-on Spencer Hubbard. Hubbard earned the loudest pop from the crowd as he hit a stepback three that had the entire MSG crowd and Duke bench on their feet.
The Blue Devils quest for the #1 overall seed and ACC regular season championship continues with a quiet week. First they travel to Miami to play the lowly Hurricanes who will not be playing in the ACC Tournament in a few weeks. They return home Saturday to take on the Florida State Seminoles. The following week the Blue Devils play Wake Forest at home and travel to UNC in the finale. Both squads are strongly on the bubble and need a win against a team the caliber of Duke to strengthen their resumes.
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