Cooper Flagg dunks Zion Williamson in Duke win

DURHAM, NC — Cooper Flagg said he hadn’t seen enough angles yet to give his monster second-half dunk against Pitt an official grade, but he guessed an 8.5 out of 10.

His teammate, Tyrese Proctor, went a little further.

“That’s the best dunk in the game I’ve ever seen,” Proctor said. “That might be one of the best dunks, period.”

As soon as no. 4 Duke returned to the locker room after an emphatic 76-47 victory over Pitt, Proctor pulled up the dunk on his phone with the entire team gathered to watch it again.

Flagg had been frustrated after a low-key first half in which he picked up two early fouls, sat for an extended period and finished with just five points. He added error no. 3 with 17:43 left and was visibly frustrated.

Moments later, he stole a pass near the baseline, drove down the court, took off near the top of the key and slammed home a dunk, electrifying the crowd in what head coach Jon Scheyer called “a Zion kind of play,” reminiscent of the excitement of the former star Zion Williamson highlights at Cameron Indoor.

“We’ve had a couple of guys over the years make a couple of plays that just fire up everybody in the building,” Scheyer said. “It was one of those moments tonight.”

Flagg admitted he was “pissed off” after being flagged for his third foul and said I might have taken some frustration out on the rim on the ensuing dunk.

Flagg said he knew at midcourt he was going to score, but it wasn’t until he read the defender in the paint that he decided to dunk. From there, he said, it was a blur.

“I almost shut out as soon as I jumped and everything from that was just a flash,” said Flagg, who finished with 19 points and 10 rebounds. “I jumped, my mind went blank and it all happened really fast.”

Flagg looked up at the crowd, who celebrated the moment wildly and were then engulfed by teammates. Pitt’s Guillermo Diaz Graham was flagged for a foul on the play, and Flagg made the ensuing free throw. After Pitt missed a layup at the other end, Flagg drilled another dunk to put Duke up by 14 — though the second wasn’t nearly as acrobatic as the first, which Flagg said was “top three” for him.

“He gets angry but he’s loose at the same time. He loves being in the arena, but he’s got an edge to him now and it can go fast. We saw that tonight. He took his third (fault) and that just got him going.”

Duke dominated after Flagg’s heroics, outscoring the Panthers 37-21 after the dunk. Flagg’s second half included 14 points on 5-of-7 shooting, seven rebounds and five assists. He was plus-16 in the half.

After the game, which Duke finished 18-0, Scheyer made a point to suggest there should be no debate about who the best player in the country is at this point.

“He’s proven that with who he’s played and how he’s done it in such a mature way,” Scheyer said. “He’s just so competitive and he just gets a lot of good things out of his teammates.”