Andy Hancock

Men's Basketball

Top-Seeded Duke Beats Georgia Tech 78-70 in ACC Tournament Quarterfinals

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Kon Knueppel scored 28 points as top-seeded Duke overcame injuries to star Cooper Flagg and Maliq Brown to beat eighth-seeded Georgia Tech 78-70 on Thursday, March 13, and advance to the 2025 T. Rowe Price ACC Men’s Basketball Tournament semifinals.
 
Isaiah Evans scored 14 points on four 3-pointers and Khaman Maluach added 14 points and nine rebounds for the Blue Devils (29-3), who have won nine straight games.
 
Flagg appeared to land awkwardly on Baye Ndongo’s foot as he came down with a rebound late in the first half. The 2025 ACC Player and Freshman of the Year retreated to the Duke bench before being helped to the locker room. Flagg returned to the Duke bench in the second half without a boot on his foot. He did not return to the game.
 
Brown went down with a shoulder injury in the first half.
 
Duncan Powell led Georgia Tech (17-16) with 24 points.
 
Duke missed its first 13 shots from beyond the arc and fell behind 26-12, matching its season’s largest deficit. They trailed 26-17 when Flagg left the game but cut the lead to five at halftime. Duke pushed its lead to seven early in the second half when Tyrese Proctor stole a pass and delivered a high-flying one-handed dunk in transition.
 
Takeaways
Georgia Tech: The Yellow Jackets bench was outscored 21-6.
Duke: The Blue Devils showed they have some firepower without Flagg and Brown on the court. After missing its first 13 3-point attempts, Duke went 7-of-17 the rest of the way.
 
Key Moment
Knueppel drove, scored and drew a foul for a 3-point play with about five minutes left in the game to put Duke up by 11.
 
Key Stat
Georgia Tech was outscored 28-12 to start the second half.
 
Of Note
  • Georgia Tech led by as many as 14 points with 5:02 remaining in the first half. The comeback matches the largest of the season that Duke has overcome (at Louisville, December 8).
  • Duke went on a 14-0 run over 5:15 of game time to flip the game. The Blue Devils entered the run trailing by seven points (31-24) and closed with a seven-point advantage (38-31).
  • It marks the fourth time this season that Duke has overcome a double-digit deficit in a win.
  • The Blue Devils are now 111-47 all-time in ACC Tournament contests and 22-8 in ACC Tournament games played in Charlotte. Duke also earned the tournament’s top seed for the 19th time.
  • For the sixth time in Duke’s last seven games, Kon Knueppel scored at least 15 points. The Milwaukee, Wisconsin, product finished with 25 points, which matches his career high.
  • The performance was the second time in which Knueppel recorded at least 20 points, five rebounds and five assists, joining the North Carolina game on February 1.
  • Duke’s Khaman Maluach finished with a career-high four blocks in the game. The mark is tied for the fourth-highest single-game total by a freshman in ACC Tournament history.
  • Duke’s bench outscored the Georgia Tech bench 21-6 for the game, led by 14 points from Isaiah Evans.
  • Duke’s 76 points were its lowest scoring output since its February 8 loss at Clemson (71).