Duke Begins NCAA Tournament with 93-49 Win Over Mount St. Mary's

Friday, March 21

Raleigh, N.C.

2:50 p.m.

Duke University

32-3,19-1ACC

Mount St. Mary's

23-13,12-8MAAC

Mount St. Mary's

Duke

Duke Begins NCAA Tournament with 93-49 Win Over Mount St. Mary's

3/21/2025 5:45:00 PM | Men's Basketball

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RALEIGH, N.C. – No. 1-seed Duke began the 2025 NCAA Tournament with a 93-49 victory over Mount St. Mary's on Friday, March 21, at the Lenovo Center. Tyrese Proctor led the Blue Devils (32-3) with 19 points, while three others finished in double-figures - Cooper Flagg (14), Caleb Foster (12) and Khaman Maluach (11).

Patrick Ngongba II grabbed a team-high eight rebounds, setting a new career high, while Flagg finished one board behind his teammate, with seven caroms. As a team, Duke dished 21 assists, led by Proctor's five, while only committing two turnovers, to finish the game with a 10.5 assist-turnover ratio - the best in program history.

On defense, the Blue Devils limited the Mountaineers to just 19-of-63 (.302) shooting, after Mount St. Mary's entered the contest averaging 44.6 percent from the field.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Duke scored on the game's opening possession, with Kon Knueppel making the Blue Devils' first bucket in the paint. Following a Mountaineer turnover, Khaman Maluach slammed home his first points and gave Duke an early 4-0 lead within the first minute.
Two early three-pointers from Tyrese Proctor helped Duke establish a 13-2 lead before the first media timeout. A Cooper Flagg dunk at the 12:19 mark made it an extended 18-4 scoring run for the Blue Devils, putting Duke in front by 15, 24-9. Two quick layups by Flagg triggered a Mount St. Mary's timeout with 9:50 on the clock.
Maluach drilled a three-pointer and followed up with his second alley-oop slam of the first half, giving the freshman seven early points just over halfway into the first frame. Proctor's fourth three-pointer, off a Mason Gillis offensive rebound, pushed the junior into double-figures.
A three-point-play by Caleb Foster increased Duke's margin to 27, 51-27, with just over two minutes before halftime. Ngongba closed the half with a tip-in basket, sending Duke into intermission with a 54-28 edge.
Proctor and Flagg each connected on three-pointers in the first 90 seconds of the second stanza, moving Flagg into double-figures, with 12 points. Maluach scored his 11th point with a fast-break layup, snapping a scoreless stretch of nearly three minutes.
An 11-4 burst by Mount St. Mary's narrowed the margin to 24, 65-41, before Foster sent in his second three-pointer of the afternoon. Duke's defense held the Mountaineers without a point for nearly six minutes, going on an 11-0 run to lead by 35, 76-41, at the under-eight break.
The run reached as large as 19, matching Duke's season long, and the Blue Devils led by 38, 84-46, at the final media timeout of the contest. Spencer Hubbard scored Duke's final points of the game, capping the 93-49 victory.

NOTES

Duke began its 47th NCAA Tournament on Friday and is now 123-41 (.750) all-time, marking the best winning percentage in tournament history by a team with a minimum of 20 games played.
With the win, Duke improved to 33-3 (.917) in the NCAA Tournament first round, 60-17 (.779) when playing in the East Region and to 15-0 when playing against a No. 16-seed.
The game was the Blue Devils' 41st NCAA Tournament game played in the state of North Carolina, improving to a record of 35-6 (.854).
The 44-point margin of victory is the Blue Devils' seventh in the NCAA Tournament, the most by any school in the history of the event.
Friday was the first meeting between the two teams, but the second matchup for the Blue Devils against a team from the MAAC, having previously defeated Iona in the first round of the 2018 postseason in Pittsburgh.
Duke picked up its 32nd win of the season, improving to 32-3 overall for the campaign. Since the start of the 2000 season, Duke has now registered seven campaigns with at least 32 wins.
The Blue Devils ended the game with 21 assists and just two turnovers, a 10.5 assist-turnover ratio.
The 10.5 ratio sets a new program record, surpassing an 8.3 ratio that Duke finished with against The Citadel on Nov. 22, 2021.
Duke went on a 19-0 scoring burst in the second half, spanning 7:04 of game clock, to build its lead from 24 (65-41) to 43 (84-41).
The 19 unanswered points matched the Blue Devils' longest scoring run of the season – Duke also scored 19 straight against NC State on Jan. 27.
Duke won the rebounding battle, 44-38, and has finished with a positive margin on the glass in all but seven games this season.
The Blue Devils swept the specialty stats, finishing with a lead in points in the paint (36-26), points off turnovers (18-4), second-chance points (16-4) and bench points (41-18).
Duke's defense limited the Mountaineers to 49 points, 21.7 below their season average of 70.7 points per game.
The 49 points was the lowest point total for Mount St. Mary's this season.
The Blue Devils also held Mount St. Mary's to 0.71 points per possession, matching its season low (at Georgetown, Nov. 20).
Duke's offense finished with 1.39 points per possession, surpassing Quinnipiac's 1.34 (Jan. 18), as the highest output by a Mountaineer opponent this season.
Duke has now connected on at least one 3-pointer in 1,260 straight games, the longest streak nationally.
Tyrese Proctor matched his career high for made three-pointers, sinking six on Saturday. Proctor had previously set a new career high in Duke's last game against Louisville, going 6-of-14 (.429) against the Cardinals in the championship game of the ACC Tournament.
Proctor shot 6-of-8 (.750) from deep against the Mountaineers and is 12-of-22 (.545) from beyond the arc in Duke's last two games.
The junior also contributed a team-best five assists, three boards and a steal.
Cooper Flagg returned from a two-game absence due to an ankle injury and was included in the starting lineup.
The freshman played a total of 22 minutes, posting 14 points on 6-of-12 (.500) shooting, while also grabbing seven rebounds, dishing four assists and blocking two shots.
Caleb Foster scored 12 points on 4-of-5 (.800) shooting, fueled by 3-of-4 (.750) from beyond the arc.
Foster connected on three triples for the second time this season, joining his performance against Wofford on Nov. 16.
Khaman Maluach rounded out Duke's double-digit scoring, finishing the contest with 11 points on a perfect 5-for-5 from the field. Maluach slammed home three dunks and added a first-half three-pointer, his fourth of the season.
Patrick Ngongba II set a new career high for rebounds with eight, while also scoring nine points on 4-of-5 (.800) shooting and rejecting three shot attempts.
Darren Harris scored a career-high seven points, shooting 3-of-6 (.500) from the field in 11 minutes of play, including a fast-break slam.
Harris also brought in four caroms, matching his career high.
Neal Begovich connected on a three-pointer in the second half, his first triple as Blue Devil.
Spencer Hubbard laid in a bucket in the final minute of the contest, marking his first NCAA Tournament field goal.

QUOTES

"I thought it was a workmanlike performance by our team. Any time you only have two turnovers in a game, that's pretty good. I just thought that these guys were incredibly mature without necessarily even playing in the NCAA Tournament besides Tyrese (Proctor) and Mason (Gillis). Proud of the performance. We have to move on very quickly, but really good to get our feet wet and understand what the tournament is all about." - Duke head coach Jon Scheyer
"Yeah, I thought we were great. I thought we were poised, controlled the tempo of the game. Just read what the defense gave us, and I think we're playing our best basketball when we all move the ball and get great looks." - Duke junior guard Tyrese Proctor - about 21 assists and just two turnovers by the Blue Devils
"I thought we kind of just came out and executed our game plan, did what we were trying to do. We didn't take them lightly. We came out, and we executed, and we just jumped out to (a lead)." - Duke freshman guard/forward Cooper Flagg

UP NEXT

No. 1-seed Duke advances to the second round of the NCAA Tournament, where it will meet No. 9-seed Baylor on Sunday, March 23. Game time between the Blue Devils (32-3) and Bears (20-14) is yet to be announced.

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