‘Cooking’ Duke rolls past Baylor into Sugary food 16

• David HaleMar 23, 2025, 06:32 PM ET Close College football reporter.Joined ESPN in 2012.

• Graduate of the University of Delaware.RALEIGH, N.C.– With 7:56 left in the very first half, Duke was locked

  in a tight game against Baylor, down a point, with star Cooper Flagg in early foul trouble and the upset-minded Bears tormenting the Blue Devils in the paint.That’s when Duke released what head coach Jon Scheyer called its “killer impulse.”Duke closed the half on a 24-6 run to open a 17-point lead before controling the 2nd half to move on to the Sweet 16 with an 89-66 win over the Bears. “It’s a thing we have actually discussed a lot as a group, just not letting our foot off the gas,”stated Tyrese Proctor, who led all scorers with 25 points, consisting of 7 3-pointers.” Valuing the ball’s a huge, and as soon as our defense gets cooking, it’s hard to stop us, and it’s been a great deal of fun.”Enjoyable for Duke, not so much for the opposition.The Blue Devils have now won their first two games of this NCAA competition by a combined 67 points, connected for the eight-largest margin through two games in tournament history, according to ESPN Research.Duke has now won 13 straight, and of its 33 wins this season, 21 have actually come by at least 20 points.”That’s not what we’re focused on, “stated Flagg, who completed with 18 points, nine rebounds and 6 assists.

  “We’re simply out here playing each belongings, attempting to beat groups as best we can.”Editor’s Picks And yet, when Duke gets rolling, those margins simply sort of happen.”Our big thing is simply doing it ownership by possession, doing it each and every single time,”

point guard Sion James said.”Each time down the flooring we consider a specific battle, and if you win adequate fights, you’re going to win the war. So up 10, up 30, whatever the number may be, we’re going to fight every time down the flooring, and ultimately teams aren’t going to want to keep playing. We know they’re going to break eventually if we keep doing our task.”It was a 12-0 perform at completion of the first half that may have been the snapping point for Baylor, who never totally recuperated. VJ Edgecombe’s 3 with 16:31 to go pulled the Bears to within 13– as close as they ‘d get the remainder of the way.The robust winning margins for Duke are a sign of a team bent on dominance as much as winning, but as ESPN Research keeps in mind, of the 8 other groups to win by this much in their very first two competition games,

just one– 1963 Loyola Chicago– won all of it.( 6 of them made the Final 4, however.)Duke is all too aware of just how rare its grip on success is, even in the middle of the monster margins. Scheyer stated he’s kept in mind the Blue Devils ‘near collapse against North Carolina in the ACC competition, when a 21-point lead vaporized into a

nail-biting finish.And at this moment, there are no 2nd possibilities– something Flagg stated remains on his mind, even when Duke is up huge.”Knowing it could be your last game,” Flagg said,”knowing it’s win or go home. There’s an one-upmanship in our group. We have 14 guys who offer 100%.

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