Flagg and Proctor Propel Duke Past Boston College, 88-63

Saturday, January 18

Chestnut Hill, Mass.

8 p.m.

Duke University

16-2,8-0ACC

Boston College

9-9,1-6ACC

Duke

Boston College

Flagg and Proctor Propel Duke Past Boston College, 88-63

1/18/2025 10:21:00 PM | Men's Basketball

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CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. – No. 3 Duke used 20-point performances from Cooper Flagg and Tyrese Proctor en route to an 88-63 victory at Boston College on Saturday, Jan. 18. The Blue Devils (16-2, 8-0 ACC) trailed by as many as seven early in the contest, but outscored the Eagles (9-9, 1-6 ACC), 48-29, following halftime to secure its sixth conference win with a final margin of at least 20 points.

Flagg poured in 28 points on a 9-of-14 (.643) performance from the field, and added a 9-of-11 (.818) showing from the free throw line. The freshman also added five rebounds, four assists, two blocks and two steals. Proctor tallied his first 20-point outing of the season, and third of his career, with 20 total points, highlighted by three three-pointers. Isaiah Evans rounded out Duke's double-digit scoring, with 16 points, aided by four three-pointers.

On the glass, Sion James paced the Blue Devils with his seven caroms. Mason Gillis finished right behind James on the glass, grabbing a season-high six caroms. James also led the team in assists, dishing six dimes.

With the victory, Duke extended its winning streak to 12, moving into the lead for longest streak nationally, and gave head coach Jon Scheyer his 70th win at the helm of the Duke program. Duke is now 5-0 in road games this season, the best start to a road slate since the 2018-19 season, when Duke won its first seven away games.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Both teams scored points in the paint on their respective opening possessions, with Cooper Flagg getting Duke on the board. Tyrese Proctor gave the Blue Devils their first lead, 5-4, with a three-pointer. The Eagles scored seven of the next nine points, taking an 11-7 lead after five minutes of action.
Boston College's defense held Duke without a point to a 1-of-7 stretch from the field and took a 18-11 lead with 11:37 on the clock. Patrick Ngongba II scored his first points of the night on Duke's next possession and the Blue Devils trailed by five at the under-12 timeout.
Five makes in a row by Duke gave the Blue Devils the lead, 21-19, capped by Maluach's third dunk of the first half and Proctor's make with a toe on the three-point line. Proctor and Flagg became the first two players to reach double figures, with the latter knocking down a floater in the paint with 4:25 on the clock, putting Duke in front by six, 30-25.
Flagg continued his flurry of points, with a spinning drive and layup while getting fouled, sending the game to its final media timeout of the first half with the Blue Devils still leading, 32-27. The freshman converted the three-point-play out of the break, giving him 13 points.
Duke took a six-point edge into the break, 40-34, led by Flagg and Proctor, who scored 15 and 10, respectively, in the opening 20 minutes. The duo each tallied an early bucket out of halftime, pushing the Blue Devils' lead to eight, 44-36. A layup and a technical free throw by Flagg gave him 20 points with 17:44 remaining.
A three-point-play courtesy of Sion James edged Duke back in front by double-digits, 53-42, with just over five minutes played in the second stanza. Isaiah Evans drilled his second make from beyond the arc, giving the freshman eight points and the Blue Devils their largest lead of the game so far, 58-43.
Proctor made two from the charity stripe, making it a 10-point scoring run by Duke and giving the junior a season-high 17 points with just over 10 minutes left in the game. Duke exploded with three consecutive three-pointers, courtesy of back-to-back connections by Evans and capped off by Flagg's first make from deep, ballooning the lead to 25, 75-50, with six minutes remaining.
With the shot clock winding down, Proctor made his third three-pointer and reached the 20-point threshold for the first time this season and for the third time in his career. With the make, Duke's advantage grew to 27, 80-53, shortly before the final media break of the contest.
Duke's lead was trimmed to less than 20, 82-63, as the game drew to a close but two free throws from Caleb Foster, a layup from Evans and a dunk by Gillis secured the eventual 25-point victory, 88-63.

NOTES

Duke increased its winning streak to 12 straight games, the longest active winning streak in the nation.
The 12-game winning streak is the longest by a Duke team under head coach Jon Scheyer. The last time the Blue Devils won 12 games in a row was during the 2014-15 campaign, when Duke reeled off 12 straight wins in a stretch spanning Jan. 31, 2015 to March 12, 2015.
With the win, Scheyer is now 70-20 (.778) as head coach of the Blue Devils.
Duke is now 5-0 in road games this season, the most games without a loss on the road to start a season since the 2018-19 season, when the Blue Devils won their first seven road contests.
Saturday night extended Duke's winning streak over Boston College to 10 games. The Blue Devils now lead the overall series, 30-3.
Duke has won four straight at Conte Forum and are now 12-2 when playing in the arena.
The third-ranked Blue Devils are now 305-92 (.768) in ACC regular-season games when ranked as a top-five team in the country.
Saturday marked Duke's 150th game when playing as the No. 3 team nationally. The Blue Devils now have a 123-27 (.820) ledger when ranked third in the AP top-25 poll.
Duke turned in a 30-of-57 (.526) shooting performance from the field, marking the seventh consecutive game that the Blue Devils have finished at .500 or better from the field.
After Boston College shot 14-of-25 (.583) in the first half, a season-high by a Duke opponent, the Blue Devils' defense limited the Eagles to just 8-of-25 (.320) from the field in the second stanza.
The Blue Devils won the rebounding battle, 36-22, and have out-rebounded 15 of their first 18 opponents this season.
Duke collected 38 points in the paint, compared to 28 by the Eagles. The Blue Devils have out-scored the opposition in the paint in 16 of their 18 games and have posted a double-digit margin in that category 11 times this season.
The Blue Devils held Miami to just three fast-break points. Duke opponents have logged single-digit fast-break points in all but two games this season.
Duke's defense limited Boston College to 63 points, and has held all but one unranked opponent under 65 points.
The Eagles mustered just 29 points in the second half, becoming the 10th team overall, and fifth ACC foe, that Duke's defense has held to 30 points or fewer in the second half this season.
Duke shot 20-of-25 (.800) from the charity stripe and have made at least 20 free throws in two of its last three contests.
With their six dunks on Saturday night, Duke is now out-dunking its opponents, 81-22, this season.
Duke has now connected on at least one 3-pointer in 1,243 straight games, tied for the longest streak nationally.
Cooper Flagg posted an all-around performance, pouring in 28 points, five rebounds, four assists, two blocks and two steals in 31 minutes.
The freshman started the game 1-of-5 from the field, but shot 8-of-9 the rest of the way, finishing 9-of-14 (.643) from the field for the game, and added a 9-of-11 (.818) performance from the free throw line.
Saturday marked Flagg's ninth 20-point game, 16th game with at least five rebounds, 14th game with at least three assists, eighth game with at least two steals and eighth game with at least two blocks.
Flagg is the first Duke player to record at least 10 points, four rebounds and four assists in four consecutive outings since Paolo Banchero and Wendell Moore Jr., did so during the 2021-22 season.
Of Flagg's nine 20-point games, five of them have been recorded in Duke's first eight ACC contests.
Tyrese Proctor also recorded a 20-point game, scoring exactly 20 on 7-of-12 (.583) shooting from the field, including three three-pointers.
The junior has now made at least three shots from deep in eight games this season and 22 times in his career. When he reaches the threshold, Duke is 20-2 during his time as a Blue Devil.
The 20 points are a season high for Proctor and his most since posting his career-high 24 at Louisville on Jan. 23, 2024.
Isaiah Evans also reached double-figures, scoring 16 points in 21 minutes. The freshman made four three-pointers to aid his scoring total and added an assist.
Sion James topped the Blue Devils with seven rebounds and six assists without committing a turnover, while adding six points.
Mason Gillis reeled in six rebounds in 19 minutes of play. The six caroms set a new season high for the graduate and his 57th career game with at least five boards.

QUOTES

"I'm proud of our team tonight. I thought our second half was really good. Give Boston College a ton of credit. They came out very physical, very ready to play. And they knocked us back a little bit. I thought it was great for us to be in that environment, that experience. I thought for [Cooper Flagg], by the way, what a special turnout. This is as close as we're going to get to Maine. And we've been here a lot, the representation of Duke fans has always been great. This was, I think, the best I've ever seen it. And I think a lot of it has to do with Maine. That was a pretty special thing to see. And obviously, he backed it up with his play. It's easy to talk about the scoring. For me, it's the blocks, the rebounds, the timely baskets, his feel for stepping up at the right time, the poise that he has throughout the game. I was really proud of Tyrese [Proctor]. Tyrese is coming off a couple games where he didn't play necessarily his best, or really, he didn't make shots. And as a player, when you're not making shots, it's easy to think about that. He's been busting his butt every day working. And I thought he had a great overall game. The points came with his competitiveness, his defense, everything else that he did. A lot to learn from. A lot of things we can do better." - head coach Jon Scheyer
"I wouldn't say I felt any type of pressure. For me, it was more of just a blessing to be able to come out and see a lot of familiar faces in the crowd and people I knew. It gave me confidence more than anything." - Duke freshman guard/forward Cooper Flagg
"I heard from a lot of people leading up. All the way back to sometime last year, there was people talking about coming to this game, so it was kind of expected. It was a huge turnout. I'm really grateful to have such a support system from the state of Maine." - Cooper Flagg

UP NEXT

No. 3 Duke returns to the court in a week, remaining on the road for a matchup at Wake Forest on Saturday, Jan. 25. The Blue Devils (16-2, 8-0 ACC) and Demon Deacons (14-4, 6-1 ACC) tipoff at 4:30 p.m., with the game broadcast live on ESPN.

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