No. 4 Duke smothers Pitt with closing 18-0 run

Cooper Flagg collected 19 points and 10 rebounds, Kon Knueppel scored 17 points and No. 4 Duke's stout defense carried the Blue Devils past visiting Pitt 76-47 in a matchup of two of the Atlantic Coast Conference's top teams Tuesday night in Durham, N.C.

Duke held Pitt to a miserable night on offense. The Panthers failed to score for the game's final 7:58, resulting in a game-ending 18-0 run for the Blue Devils.

Khaman Maluach added 11 points and eight rebounds for Duke (13-3, 5-0 ACC), which has nine straight wins. Duke's starting backcourt chimed in with 23 points, 13 from Tyrese Proctor and 10 from Sion James. Proctor scored the game's final 10 points.

Cameron Corhen scored 11 points and pulled in seven rebounds for Pitt (12-3, 3-1), which shot 31 percent (18 of 58) from the field. That included 6-for-20 on 3-pointers.

The Panthers, who are coached by former Duke player and assistant coach Jeff Capel, were denied pulling off a second consecutive road upset of Duke.

Duke ended up shooting 50 percent from the field, helping it to overcome 14 turnovers.

Duke's lead grew to 17 points in the second half before the Panthers closed to within 58-47 on Brandin Cummings' drive with less than eight minutes to play.

The Blue Devils took a timeout and followed with an 8-0 run for the Blue Devils with Maluach and Flagg each scoring four points.

Pitt fell into the prolonged scoring drought. The frustration grew for the Panthers, with Damian Dunn ejected for a flagrant 2 foul with 30.6 seconds to play.

Duke ended up 11-for-20 on 3-point attempts, with Knueppel hitting four of those shots and Proctor draining three. Flagg added five assists.

The Blue Devils finished with a 41-26 rebounding advantage.

Duke led by as many as 11 points in the first half before taking a 34-24 lead to the break.

--Field Level Media