Flagg’s double-double leads No. 4 Duke to an 8th straight win, 89-62 over SMU

DALLAS — Duke standout freshman Cooper Flagg had 24 points and 11 rebounds as the fourth-ranked Blue Devils, playing without ill coach Jon Scheyer, extended their winning streak to eight games with an 89-62 victory at Atlantic Coast Conference newcomer SMU on Saturday.

Tyrese Proctor and Kon Knueppel each had 14 points for the Blue Devils (12-2, 4-0).

Wake Forest transfer Boopie Miller had 21 points for SMU (11-3, 2-1), which saw its seven-game winning streak snapped. Samet Yigitoglu, a 7-foot-2 freshman from Istanbul, had 10 points and 13 rebounds. Matt Cross had 11 points.

Scheyer didn’t travel with the team and missed a game for the first time in three seasons as Duke’s head coach. Associate head coach Chris Carrawell was the acting coach.

Duke came in with the league’s top-scoring defense and throttled the ACC’s highest-scoring team. The Mustangs were averaging more than 87 points a game for first-year coach Andy Enfield.

The Mustang shot 34% from the field (23 of 67) and their only lead was 3-2 after Cross made a 3-pointer on their first shot.

Duke: The Blue Devils had quick responses each time SMU appeared to be making a run. The first was after an early 10-point lead was trimmed to 18-16. Flagg then had a jumper and a 3-pointer. … Duke was in Texas for the first time since losing to N.C. State in an Elite Eight game played at the NBA Dallas Mavericks’ arena about 5 miles away.

SMU: With a sellout crowd, even with students not back from winter break, the Mustangs couldn’t generate any Moody magic for an early signature win with Enfield.

After a jumper by Cross to open the second half and get SMU within 41-34, Flagg scored nine points in less than three minutes. That was part of a 13-3 Duke run.

Duke outscored SMU 42-24 in the paint. The Blue Devils made 11 3-pointers while SMU had five.

Duke is home against Pittsburgh on Tuesday night, when SMU is at North Carolina.