BaylorBears.com
RALEIGH, N.C.– Distinctly undersized and outmanned, the ninth-seeded Baylor Bears did a lot of things right against the top-seeded and No. 1-ranked Duke Blue Devils in Sunday's NCAA Tournament second-round game before a Duke-heavy crowd of 19,244 at the Lenovo Center.
What they couldn't do is figure out a way to stop 6-6 junior shooting guard Tyrese Proctor, who drained 7-of-8 from 3-point range and finished with a game-high 25 points in leading the Blue Devils (33-3) to a dominant 89-66 victory over the Bears (20-15) and their 34th trip to the Sweet 16.
"Steph Curry (Proctor) was 7-for-8 today and 6-for-8 (in the first-round win over Mount St. Mary's)," said Baylor coach Scott Drew, "so I don't know if he's transferring to NC State, but he was pretty good the last two games here."
This one certainly felt more like a home game for Duke, whose campus is only 21 miles away in Durham, North Carolina, part of the Tobacco Road area that includes Duke, North Carolina, North Carolina State and Wake Forest.
But even with the raucous crowd clearly behind the Blue Devils, Baylor had a 24-23 lead at the under-8:00 media timeout in the first half, and Proctor had even missed a shot (his only miss of the day).
In the blink of an eye, though, Duke had a comfortable 17-point lead going into the break. Starting with a pair of free throws by Flagg, who finished with 18 points, nine rebounds and six assists, the Blue Devils outscored the Bears 24-6 over the last 7 ½ minutes.
Flagg scored seven points in a closing 12-0 run that was capped by a floater in the lane by Caleb Foster that pushed Duke's lead to 47-30.
"That last eight minutes (of the first half), I beat myself up as a coach," Drew said. "Should have done different things, burned all the timeouts, played Norchad (Omier), try to get longer offense."
Omier got off to a great start, scoring Baylor's first six points and helping the Bears take their first lead of the game, 9-7, on a 3-pointer by Duke transfer Jeremy Roach five minutes into the first half. But when he picked up his second and third fouls in a 46-second span, Omier had to sit out for four minutes during a stretch when the Blue Devils were able to create separation.
Try as they might, the Bears never got closer than 13 points in the second half, the last time coming at 61-48 on a pair of free throws by freshman Robert O. Wright III with 12:04 left in the game.
Proctor was actually at his best late in the second half, going 3-for-3 from 3-point range in a three-minute stretch, pushing the lead to 84-61 with just under three minutes to play.
"I think when Tyrese plays with the type of confidence he's been playing with, really this whole second half of the season, is really good for our team," Flagg said. "Such a talented player, such a weapon for us when he's being confidence looking for his shot."
Duke coach Jon Scheyer said the margin of victory "speaks to the level of killer instinct that our guys have, the competitiveness and the connectivity."
Despite a size disadvantage at every position, Baylor won a tight rebounding battle overall, 32-29, and beat the Blue Devils on the offensive glass, 18-3, scoring a dozen second-chance points. The Bears also turned it over only five times and actually had more double-digit scorers (four) than Duke (three).
"If you say you're going to out-rebound somebody 18-3 on the offensive glass, and only going to have five turnovers, you'd probably feel pretty good about that," Drew said.
Omier, a transfer from Miami who played only one season at Baylor, narrowly missed his 23rd double-double of the season and 91st of his career, finishing with 15 points and nine rebounds and hitting 7-of-14 from the field.
"Coming to Baylor is probably one of the best things I've ever done. I wouldn't change that for anything," Omier said. "The way the coaches care about you, the teammates, they make you grow spiritually, mentally, physically. The relationships I've built here. I don't know if it's bad to be happy right now, but I'm happy that I came to Baylor and meet all these amazing people."
Freshman VJ Edgecombe had 16 points and six rebounds, while Wright and Langston Love scored 11 points apiece. Roach had seven points, three rebounds and an assist in 26 minutes off the bench against his former Duke teammates.
"I said this the other day, but . . . we'll look back on his four years at Duke as such a key moment," Scheyer said of Roach, who played four seasons with the Blue Devils and was part of their Final Four team in 2022. "He was the only returning player to come back when I took over. It meant a lot to me. . . . (In the hand-shake line), I told him I love him."
Duke advances to Thursday's East Region semifinals in Newark, N.J., and will face the winner of a late game between fourth-seeded Arizona and fifth-seeded Oregon.
"The last game is never easy if you like the guys you were with all year," Drew said. "Our staff was really blessed to be with a great group of guys. Faced a lot of adversity, but they were always very coachable and respectful and did a great job representing Baylor University and Baylor basketball."