Maluach Posts Double-Double and Flagg Scores 27 in Duke's 78-57 Victory Over Cal

Wednesday, February 12

Durham, N.C.

9 p.m.

Duke University

21-3,13-1ACC

California

12-13,5-9ACC

California

Duke

Khaman Maluach celebrates a three-pointer versus Cal

Maluach Posts Double-Double and Flagg Scores 27 in Duke's 78-57 Victory Over Cal

2/12/2025 11:33:00 PM | Men's Basketball

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DURHAM, N.C. – No. 3 Duke men's basketball led wire-to-wire in a 78-57 victory over California on Wednesday, Feb. 12. The Blue Devils (21-3, 13-1 ACC) raced out to a 38-23 first-half lead and held California (12-13, 5-9 ACC) to just 57 points on 20-of-57 (.351) shooting to secure the 21-point victory.

Cooper Flagg scored a game-high 27 points and Khaman Maluach secured his fourth double-double of the season with 10 points and 12 rebounds. Tyrese Proctor scored double-digits for the fourth consecutive game, pouring in 18 points, highlighted by a 3-of-6 (.500) performance from beyond the arc. Flagg, Maluach and Sion James led the team with three assists and Flagg swiped a game-high three steals.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Tyrese Proctor began the game with a three-pointer on the opening possession and Khaman Maluach tipped in a layup on Duke's next trip down the floor, putting Duke in front, 5-0, less than a minute in. The visitors pulled within two, 9-7, at the first media break of the evening.
Cooper Flagg scored four quick points, increasing the Blue Devils' advantage to six, 13-7, with 14:40 on the clock. Back-to-back triples, from Proctor and Mason Gillis, gave Duke its first double-digit lead, 19-9, shortly after the second media timeout of the night.
Maluach connected on a three-pointer, Duke's fourth of the game, pushing the Blue Devils' margin to 12, 25-13. Duke remained in control, 38-23, as the clock ticked towards one minute before halftime.
After holding a 38-23 advantage at halftime, Duke opened up a 21-point gap, 50-29, following a three-point-play by Flagg. Cal was limited to a stretch of 1-for-10 shooting from the field, as Duke expanded the margin to 26, 58-32, following a reverse slam by Flagg. Maluach capped off his double-double with a rebound at the 8:28 mark, posting the team's first double-double since Maluach tallied 12 points and 15 rebounds versus Miami on Jan. 14.
At the final media timeout of the contest, Duke maintained its 20-point cushion, 70-50. Four points from Patrick Ngongba II, and Proctor's 18th point of the contest, closed out Duke's 78-57 victory.

NOTES

Wednesday night was the fifth all-time meeting between the two teams, the first as conference foes, and California's first game at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
Head coach Jon Scheyer secured his 75th victory as head coach of the program and is now 75-21 (.781) in his coaching career, including a 45-3 (.938) record at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
Duke won the rebounding battle, 43-31, and has finished with a positive margin on the glass in all but six games this season.
With the win, Duke improved to 310-93 (.769) in ACC regular-season games when ranked as a top-five team in the country.
The Blue Devils have won eight of their last nine games played on Feb. 12, including four straight victories.
California entered the game averaging 74.8 points per game and 42.2 percent shooting from the field, but was held to just 57 points on 20-of-57 (.351) shooting by the Blue Devils' defensive unit.
The Blue Devils finished the game with 12 forced turnovers, their sixth consecutive game with double-digit opponent giveaways.
Duke's defense forced two first-half shot clock violations. The Blue Devils have now tallied 26 opponent violations on the season, while committing just five.
The Blue Devils limited the Golden Bears, who entered the contest as the ACC's top offensive rebounding squad, to eight second-chance points. Seventeen different foes have been held to single-digit second chance points by Duke's defense.
For the 13th time this season, Duke finished with a double-digit advantage for points in the paint, outscoring Cal, 30-20, in the category.
Cooper Flagg scored 27 points, posting his 13th 20-point outing of his career. The freshman shot 8-of-14 (.571) from the field, including 2-of-4 (.500) from beyond the arc, and went a perfect 9-of-9 from the charity stripe.
When Flagg scores at least 20 points, Duke is now 12-1.
The freshman also added five rebounds, a game-high three steals and a team-high three assists.
Tyrese Proctor reached double-figures for the fourth consecutive game, scoring 18 points.
In that four-game span, the junior is averaging 18.5 points per game and is shooting 13-of-29 (.448) from beyond the arc in those contests.
When Proctor makes at least three three-pointers, Duke is 9-2 this season and 22-3 in his career.
Khaman Maluach posted a double-double, with 10 points and 12 caroms. The freshman now has four double-doubles on the season and tallied the team's first double-double since Maluach finished with 12 points and 15 boards against Miami on Jan. 14.
Sion James registered eight points, nine rebounds and three assists against Cal for his best board work since recording a double-double with 11 caroms against Virginia Tech on Dec. 31, 2024.
James has now distributed 26 assists with just five turnovers in Duke's last seven games – a 5.2 assist-to-turnover ratio.

QUOTES

"I thought it was a good response. Wasn't the prettiest game we've ever played. I thought our guys competed really hard, did some good things. Trying to get some more minutes too and figure out rotations a little bit better. Need to look at that and see where I can be better there. But overall, holding them to 57 points, 28% from the field in the first half, I thought our defense wasn't quite the same in the second half again and we're going to address that. I thought Khaman [Maluach] was terrific today. Seven offensive rebounds, double-double, he's so unselfish. He has three assists, and to be 7'2", to play with that big of a motor, and then still be a great decision maker and play hard, where you get 12 rebounds. Really proud of him with what he did. And then, [Cooper Flagg's] response, he was just sharp, under control, competitive, aggressive. He really carried us throughout with his play." - Duke head coach Jon Scheyer
"I thought we came out, followed the game plan, impacted the ball, and did what we do on defense. For any basketball team, it's a lot easier to get out in transition and get those early looks. Especially for us, having so much talent, we're way better in transition, so getting stops and pushing the ball helps us out a lot." - Duke freshman guard/forward Cooper Flagg
"We came back to our defense – be us and play hard on defense and get stops and rebounds. That's what we focused on today. I feel like we played great defensively. We had a couple of mistakes, but it's never going to be perfect all the time. I feel like we had a good team defense, we played together and we communicated to each other." - Duke freshman center Khaman Maluach

UP NEXT

No. 3 Duke remains at home, welcoming Stanford to Cameron Indoor Stadium on Saturday, Feb. 15. The Blue Devils (21-3, 13-1 ACC) and Cardinal (16-9, 8-6 ACC) will tip off at 4 p.m., on ABC.