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March Madness live updates, scores, bracket: Duke, Cooper Flagg vs. Baylor; Florida ousts UConn in men’s NCAA tournament
- Is there any question that Duke’s the favorite to win it all? Duke opened the floodgates on a good Baylor team Sunday en route to a dominant, 89-66 win.
- Duke’s now headed to the Sweet 16 thanks to a 44-point win over Mount Saint Mary’s and a 23-point win over Baylor. Cooper Flagg has been outstanding. He finished Sunday with 18 points, nine rebounds and six assists.
- But Duke’s not just Flagg, far from it. Tyrese Proctor is on fire and the most valuable Duke player through the first two rounds. He shot 7 of 8 from 3 against Baylor and left the game to an ovation from the Raleigh crowd after leading Duke with 25 points. He shot 6 of 8 from 3 against Mount Saint Mary’s.
- As a team, Duke shot a staggering 64.4% from the field including a 12-of-22 effort (54.5%) from 3. Whoever wins between Oregon and Arizona later Sunday will face an enormous test next week in the Sweet 16.
- Here’s a Cooper Flagg highlight reel:
- Tyrese Proctor is rewriting his Duke legacy one 3-pointer at a time.
- A celebrated recruit who didn’t take the leap many expected between his freshman and sophomore campaigns, Proctor was a frequent target of criticism last year. Now he’s thriving as a veteran role player complementing Cooper Flagg, Kon Knueppel.
- Proctor has buried 7 threes to account for all but four of his 25 points against Baylor. He has 19 total 3-pointers in Duke’s past two-plus games.
- “Tyrese came to Duke early, and a lot of people like gave him some criticism and stuff like that in his freshman year,” said former Duke guard Jeremy Roach, who transferred to Baylor this year. “Then last year had a kind of up-and-down season, got hurt.
- “He’s just always put the work in. He’s stayed true, always stayed true and stuff, and this year he’s blossoming. Shooting like 40 from the 3. The last couple games, he’s been really setting the tone.”
- If Tyrese Proctor’s gonna keep shooting like this, nobody’s beating Duke.
- Proctor was 6 for 8 on 3 pointers in Duke’s first-round win over Mount Saint Mary’s. He’s now 6 of 7 from deep against Baylor and leads Duke with 22 points. This is on top of the rest of Duke’s offense operating extremely efficiently.
- Duke leads, 79-58 at the final TV timeout and is 3:59 from advancing to the Sweet 16.
- Baylor just has no answers for Duke’s offense. The Blue Devils are getting what they want inside and out and are executing with their opportunities.
- With 7:50 remaining, Duke leads, 70-51. Duke’s shooting 61.1% from the field and 43.8% (7 of 16) from 3-point distance. Cooper Flagg leads the way with 18 points, seven rebounds and four assists.
- Baylor continues trade buckets with Duke. The Blue Devils lead, 63-48 with 11:18 remaining. Barring a dramatic shift, Duke looks well on its way to the Sweet 16.
- Baylor’s getting buckets but not the stops that it needs. It’s shaved just two points off its deficit with a 10-8 run to start the second half and trails, 55-40 at the first TV break of the half.
- This is not going to cut it. Baylor needs to figure out how to stop Duke or will watch its season come to an end.
- The second half is underway after Duke’s late-half blitz to take control against Baylor. Can the Bears answer after digging a 47-30 halftime hole?
- What a finish to the first half for the Blue Devils! Cooper Flagg and Tyrese Proctor are leading the way with a combined 26 points, but they’re getting contributions from everyone.
- As a whole, Duke is shooting 65% from the field and attacking the rim with conviction. It’s led to 19 first-half free throws, and the Blue Devils have made 16 of them.
- The Blue Devils are rolling just before halftime. The latest surge has put them up 45-30 with a minute left in the first half.
- Baylor’s Dubravcic appeared to hook Duke’s Patrick Ngongba under the basket, so Duke got a pair of free throws and the ball to extend their lead again.
- The Blue Devils are starting to create some separation just before halftime. Cooper Flagg just hit a 3-pointer to put them up 40-30.
- Dan Hurley put his emotions on display after UConn’s loss to Florida earlier in Raleigh — in more ways than one.
- He held back tears in a postgame interview with CBS. He also shared some choice, heated words with Baylor in the tunnel, apparently unhappy with the officiating.
- Tyrese Proctor’s now 3 of 4 from deep. He was 6 of 8 from 3 in the first round. His latest 3 extended Duke’s lead to 28-24. The Blue Devils extended the lead again to 31-24 before a timeout with 4:23 remaining in the half.
- Cooper Flagg has two fouls, neither of them good. He picked up his first early in the backcourt and just picked up his second on a charge. He’s headed to the bench with 6:42 remaining in the half.
- The good news for Duke? Kon Knueppel is Flagg’s replacement off the bench.
- Duke’s the juggernaut playing close to home. But Baylor’s not shrinking to the moment. The Bears have a 24-23 lead at the TV timeout with 7:39 remaining in the first half. Baylor’s shooting 50% from the field and from 3 (3 of 6) and controlling the boards early with an 11-6 rebounding advantage.
- Duke’s relying heavily on the 3 early with 8 of its 13 field goal attempts from long distance. The Blue Devils are 3 of 8 from deep and 4 of 5 from inside the arc.
- Elite athleticism is part of why VJ Edgecombe’s a projected lottery pick.
- Duke junior Tyrese Proctor is off to a scorching start to the NCAA tournament. Proctor was 6 for 8 from 3 in Duke’s first-round win over Mount Saint Mary’s. He’s 2 for 3 from deep early against Baylor as Duke takes a 15-13 edge into the second TV timeout.
- UConn coach Dan Hurley was still fighting back tears when he spoke to reporters after his team’s narrow 77-75 loss to Florida.
- When asked why he was so emotional, Hurley pointed to UConn’s tumultuous season and to how close the Huskies came to advancing to the NCAA tournament’s second weekend.
- “There’s a lot of emotion, man,” Hurley said. “Players play with it. I coach with it. And you’re always f—— drained when it’s over.”
- UConn led by as many as six points in the second half and did not relinquish the lead until a Walter Clayton Jr. 3-pointer with less than three minutes to go. Had the Huskies been able to hold on, they would have advanced to a West Regional that would not have included either top seed Florida or No. 2 seed St. John’s.
- “To be that close to getting to a Sweet 16 and knowing that the 2 seed lost yesterday, this bracket could have really opened up for us,” Hurley said.
