Cooper Flagg scores 30, leads Duke over Arizona and into Elite 8 - ESPN

NEWARK, N.J. — Duke's Cooper Flagg put on a skills clinic and overcame an onslaught from Arizona and Caleb Love, finishing with 30 points, six rebounds, seven assists and three blocks Thursday night in a 100-93 NCAA tournament victory that pulled the Blue Devils within one win of the Final Four.​

Flagg, long over the ankle injury that sidelined him earlier this month, did enough to prevent Love, a thorn in Duke's side for five years, from ruining another Blue Devils season.

Love finished with 35 points, one short of his career high, including a streak of 15 straight for his Wildcats (24-13) during a ferocious second-half run that cut a 19-point deficit to as little as five with 1:56 left.

But it's the top-seeded Blue Devils (34-3) moving to the Elite Eight for the second straight season. On Saturday comes a 1 vs. 2 showdown in the East Region, when coach Jon Scheyer's team faces Alabama, which set a March Madness record for 3-pointers in a 113-88 win over BYU earlier in the evening.

A win would put Duke in the Final Four for the 18th time. The last time, in 2022, Love played for North Carolina and scored 28 points to bring an end to legendary coach Mike Krzyzewski's career.

Arizona chipped away at its big deficit and got within five when Carter Bryant made a 3-pointer with 1:56 left.

Flagg made three of four free throws — and Duke made 9 of 10 — to salt away the win down the stretch.

The fourth-seeded Wildcats sagged and hung on the 6-foot-9 freshman and made him work for everything. But he was just better than everyone on the court.

It was a show that brought an end to Love's vibrant career — one he wasn't willing to see end without a fight. He missed his first three shots but finished 11 for 21 and made five 3s to keep