Cooper Flagg, No. 3 Duke cruise to win over Virginia

Cooper Flagg collected his seventh double-double of the season and No. 3 Duke rolled to an 80-62 victory over Virginia in Atlantic Coast Conference action on Monday in Charlottesville, Va.

Flagg had 17 points and a career-high 14 rebounds and fellow freshmen Kon Knueppel and Isaiah Evans each added 17 points as the Blue Devils (23-3, 15-1 ACC) won their third consecutive game and strengthened their grip on first place in the conference.

Evans sank 5 of 6 shots from behind the 3-point arc and Duke improved to 14-0 when scoring at least 80 points. The Blue Devils shot 52.5 percent from the field and outrebounded Virginia by an overwhelming 41-21 margin.

Andre Rohde and Dai Dai Ames each scored 15 points to lead the Cavaliers (13-13, 6-9), who had their three-game winning streak snapped and fell to 0-5 this season against ranked opponents. Isaac McKneely added 14 points.

The Blue Devils scored the first eight points of the second half to open up a 51-29 lead.

Duke's advantage swelled to 60-35 on Flagg's layup with 13:13 remaining.

The Blue Devils built their largest lead at 70-43 on Sion James' dunk with 8:06 to play.

Duke improved to 8-1 in road games and Virginia fell to 9-6 at home.

The Cavaliers showed some fight early, as there were five lead changes in the first five minutes.

Virginia cooled off as the Blue Devils went on a 19-4 run. Evans scored Duke's last nine points from 3-point range during that surge as the visitors built a 30-16 advantage with 7:17 left in the half.

Duke's largest lead of the first half was 43-26 with 38 seconds left on a jumper by Flagg, who had 10 points and 11 rebounds at the break. The Blue Devils led 43-29 at halftime.

Duke forward Maliq Brown departed due to a shoulder injury 1:21 before halftime. The 6-foot-9 junior did not return, finishing with two points, two assists and one rebound in 10 minutes off the bench.

--Field Level Media