Cooper Flagg, No. 3 Duke cruise past Cal

Cooper Flagg scored 27 points as No. 3 Duke bounced back from a loss with authority, beating visiting California 78-57 on Wednesday night in Durham, N.C.

Flagg shot 8-of-14 from the floor and filled up the box score with five rebounds, three assists and three steals for the Blue Devils (21-3, 13-1 Atlantic Coast Conference). The touted freshman also shot a perfect 9-of-9 from the free throw line as Duke recovered from its 77-71 setback at Clemson on Saturday.

Khaman Maluach chipped in 10 points and 12 rebounds for his fourth double-double of the season for the Blue Devils, while Tyrese Proctor scored 18 points.

Jeremiah Wilkinson powered the Golden Bears (12-13, 5-9) with 21 points. Andrej Stojakovic scored 10 points and Rytis Petraitis had 11 points and six boards. Cal took its fourth loss in five games.

The hosts built a double-digit lead less than nine minutes into the game, getting back-to-back 3-pointers from Proctor and Mason Gillis to go up 19-9 at the 11:44 mark.

In the second half, Duke used a 13-3 run to stretch the lead to 26, its largest of the game. Flagg punctuated the surge by stealing the ball from Joshua Ola-Joseph and going coast-to-coast for a reverse two-handed jam that made it 58-32.

Maluach had an impressive dunk in the second half too, catching a lob from Proctor on a classic pick-and-roll and throwing it down mid-flight with two hands. It marked Proctor's lone assist of the game.

The Blue Devils had 12 assists on 27 made baskets. Aside from Flagg and Maluach, Sion James also had three assists to go along with eight points and nine rebounds for Duke.

The Blue Devils won the rebounding margin 43-31, outscored Cal in the paint 30-20 and shot 46.6 percent from the floor. Proctor went 7-of-15 and drained 3 of 6 attempts from 3-point range.

--Field Level Media