BLUE DEVILS OUTLAST CARDINALS, CAPTURE ACC TOURNAMENT TITLE

CHARLOTTE, N.C – It didn’t matter that the best player in the country was out. It didn’t matter that a key defensive contributor was out. It didn’t matter they almost gave up a 24-point comeback. 

Saturday night, the No. 1 seed Blue Devils took down the No. 2 seed Louisville Cardinals, 73-62, winning the school’s second ACC title in three seasons. 

“We're a very good team,” Duke head coach Jon Scheyer said. “We knew we had to step up with Maliq and Cooper, who were out, who are, obviously, super, super important players for us. 

“But I thought everybody contributed and everybody pitched in, and we didn't need any Superman performances or anything like that. Everybody just stepped up and added to the team.” 

With 11:51 to go in the first half, Duke led Louisville, 17-15. 

Chucky Hepburn, the Cardinal hero who hit the game-winner against Stanford in the quarterfinal, scored the first seven points for Louisville. 

Both sides were shooting lights out. The Cardinals were 6-of-10 from the floor and Duke was 6-of-12 at the 11:51 mark. 

Nearing the end of the first half, Louisville’s Terrence Edwards Jr. began to catch fire. 

The transfer from James Madison had 15 points at the break, leading the flight of a 7-0 Cardinal run that gave Louisville a 38-33 lead at halftime. 

“Headed into this tournament, my mentality is always with the team and trying to accomplish something as a whole,” Edwards Jr. said. “My mentality was, come here and win a championship. Came up short. … 

“I just didn't want to let [Coach Kelsey] and those guys in the locker room down. Going into here, I just left everything on the line. Sometimes you don't get the outcome you want, but if you keep doing that, something good will happen.” 

For Duke, Tyrese Proctor had nine at halftime while Kon Knueppel had eight. 

When the Blue Devils came out of break, they got going quick. 

A 5-0 start tied it back up within 90 seconds. Besides Edwards Jr. practically being unguardable, Louisville couldn’t get anyone else going. 

“I just challenged our guys at halftime because I didn't think we had the necessary toughness you need to win a championship,” Scheyer said. “Our guys responded. They knew it. I thought they came out with just a different edge to them in the start of the second half.” 

From the 13:59 mark to 11:08 in the second, Duke went on a 12-0 run to take a commanding 57-47 lead over the Cardinals. 

The stretch was fueled by Khaman Maluach continuing to dominate the paint on both sides of the ball, while Knueppel and Proctor kept hitting their shots. 

“Man, we just came out and played Duke defense,” Maluach said. “We went into the locker room at halftime. We regrouped. We regrouped together, and we came back out, and we knew we had to get stops and rebounds, and that's what we did.” 

Maluach finished the night with eight points, 10 rebounds and two blocks. 

The Cardinals were never able to make a dent in the Duke lead after the run. Following a hot first half shooting the rock, Louisville went just 9-of-35 (26%) in the second half, while Duke shot 10-of-22 (45%). 

“I thought we gave up too many offensive rebounds for sure in the first half,” Knueppel said. “I thought we were a little soft on that end, especially inside. 

“So just clearing that up, and Coach was telling us that. We were aware of it, but cleaning that up, and that led to the run in the second half.” 

Despite the loss, Edwards Jr. still posted a great performance—finishing with 29 points, six rebounds and three assists, hitting 5-of-12 from beyond the arc. 

The fifth-year senior most likely would have won the MVP award for the tournament had Louisville won. 

“Like Coach said, we're far from done,” Edwards Jr. said. “We worked too hard to get here, and we're just so excited that we worked so hard to get ourselves a spot, and we'll hear our name called tomorrow, so that's great.” 

Who did end up winning ACC Tournament MVP was Duke guard Kon Knueppel, who scored 18 points Saturday. The freshman from Milwaukee had 28 points and eight assists in the first round against Georgia Tech, and 17 points in the win over North Carolina on Friday. 

“You know, I didn't really feel like I tried to turn it up a notch or anything,” Knueppel said. “I just tried to make the right play. 

“With Cooper being out … I had to play a lot more. It was just trying to be sharp, nothing spectacular, not trying to do anything crazy.” 

Obviously, many others stepped up for the Blue Devils besides Maluach and Knueppel. 

Proctor had the best offensive performance in the championship game for Duke, posting a statline of 19 points, hitting 6-of-14 shots from distance. 

Tulane transfer Sion James also came up big. He had 15 points, going 2-of-2 from downtown as well as 7-of-7 from the charity stripe. 

The amount of contribution from other players shows the matchless depth that Duke has in its back pocket. 

“Man, it says a lot, having two guys down, especially with Maliq and Coop being out,” Maluach said. “It says a lot about our team and our toughness and says a lot about other guys stepping up in big moments.” 

Louisville will obviously be a tournament team, and a pretty high seed when the bracket is announced on Sunday. It’s now time for the Cardinals to move on from the tournament and look forward to winning a national championship. 

“We all came here for one common goal, and that's to hear our name called tomorrow,” Edwards Jr. said. “Even more than that, make a run in the tournament. 

“We feel like we'll accomplish that. We'll accomplish a lot that we don't even look into because we're so worried about the next thing.” 

The same thing goes for the Blue Devils, who now have the ACC regular season title and the tournament title. They are obviously looking for one more trophy this season, but Coach Scheyer wants to allow his players to appreciate what they have already accomplished. 

“I mean, look, that's obviously the goal,” Scheyer said. “There's no question about it. But I just don't think of it that way. … I'm not running from that, either, and don't get me wrong, that's what we want to do. But just for us, we've approached this whole year—finish what's right in front of you, and that's the same thing. For us, what was right in front of us was tonight's game. 

“We'll find out where we're going tomorrow. Obviously excited to see that and figure that out. ... But I don't want to make any proclamations of what's success or not. For me, success is making sure we're connected, we're tough, we do everything we possibly can to put ourselves in that position, and I can say that we are.”