Cooper Flagg sends Duke into Elite Eight while Texas Tech wins an overtime thriller

For the Elite Eight in the NCAA men’s basketball tournament, the ACC has a Flagg bearer.

As the lone ACC team left in the tournament, Duke with its sensational freshman, Cooper Flagg, held on down the stretch to defeat Arizona, 100-93. Flagg, who scored 30 points, sparked a late first-half surge with 15 of his 18 first-half points. They came with less than eight minutes left before halftime.

In the final seconds of the half, Blue Devils teammate Mason Gillis rebounded a missed shot by Arizona’s Caleb Love. Gillis quickly found Flagg with a pass and Flagg nailed a jumper before the buzzer.

“Just a huge rebound by him (Gillis) at the end of the half to close it out,” said Flagg in describing the final sequence. “He hit me on the run. I just went up and made a shot.”

Duke’s second-year coach, Jon Scheyer, put that shot in a bigger perspective than Flagg’s matter-of-fact explanation.

“I mean that was critical in that moment,” Scheyer said.

When asked about carrying the ACC banner, Scheyer said, “It means a lot. I’ve grown up in the ACC, so I take a lot of pride in what our league is capable of and what it’s done in the past.”

But it’s the SEC that has taken over in this year’s tournament.

The Blue Devils will face one of the SEC teams, the University of Alabama, in the East regional final on Saturday. No. 2 seed Alabama poured it on against BYU, 113-88, on Thursday night.

The University of Arkansas could’ve made the night a clean sweep for the SEC, but the 10-seeded Razorbacks allowed a 16-point lead in the second half to slip away and lost in overtime against Texas Tech University, 85-83.

“We gave up a lead, but we did that a bunch this year,” said Arkansas coach John Calipari, who has guided six teams to the Men’s Final Four before taking over the Razorbacks this season. “But they had a will to win.”

Despite being the last double-digit seeded team in the field, Calipari said he and his players had a vision of staying alive in the tournament. But instead, the Arkansas Razorbacks are headed back to Fayetteville, Arkansas.

It leaves the University of Florida and Alabama as the SEC teams already bound for regional finals. The Florida Gators, the other No. 1 seed playing on Thursday night, eliminated Maryland, 87-71.

Conference rivals Kentucky and Tennessee square off Friday night, so at least three SEC teams will be among the final eight when it’s all said and done. Maybe four if Auburn, to round out all four No. 1 seeds still alive, beats the University of Michigan on Friday night.

As a highly recruited high school player, Maine native Cooper Flagg said he had also been given a vision, by the Duke leadership: “I credit Coach Scheyer and the vision he laid out for me. It just felt like the right place with the right people.”

One more Blue Devil victory and that vision will be toward San Antonio, Texas, where the Final Four national semifinals will take place on April 5.

In the women’s tournament, all four of the No. 1 seeds also remain alive as Sweet 16 action continues Friday in Spokane, Washington, and Birmingham, Alabama.