Flagg rallies No. 9 Duke past Louisville in ACC opener

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Cooper Flagg scored 13 of his 20 points in the second half and No. 9 Duke came back from a 14-point first-half deficit to beat Lousiville 76-65 on Sunday night in the Atlantic Coast Conference opener for both teams.

The Blue Devils (9-2, 1-0) trailed 30-16 midway through the first half but eventually wore down the Cardinals (5-4, 0-1), who lost their third straight.

Flagg led Duke with 12 rebounds. Tyrese Proctor scored 13 for the Blue Devils and Kon Knueppel had 12.

Terrence Edwards Jr. led Louisville with 21 points. Reyne Smith pitched in 13, and Khani Rooths finished with 10.

Takeaways

Duke: Duke took Louisville’s best punch early, and coming off an emotional win against No. 2 Auburn on Wednesday, it could have gotten ugly. However, the Blue Devils whittled their way back from down 14 in the first half to score an impressive road victory.

Louisville: Coach Pat Kelsey preached all season that the Cardinals were better perimeter shooters than their stats showed. They started well and kept Duke on the ropes for most of the game, but the Cardinals' short bench due to injuries led to Louisville running out of gas.

Key moment

Flagg drew his fourth foul with 10:36 left in regulation, and Louisville’s lead was down to 53-50. Despite his absence, the Blue Devils went on a 13-2 run to take the lead for the first time since the first minute of the game. By the time he returned nearly six minutes later, Duke led 68-60.

Key stat

Louisville hit seven of its first nine 3-pointers to build the 30-16 lead. However, the Cardinals finished making just 11 of 31 3s overall.

Up next

Duke returns home to play Incarnate Word on Tuesday night.

Louisville plays host to UTEP on Wednesday night.

___

Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here. AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball