Clemson toppled over Duke’s reign over the ACC, dismantling their sixteen game win streak on Saturday. The unexpected loss shocked the conference; everyone expected Duke to win comfortably in Littlejohn Coliseum. The Tigers focused on tough, gritty basketball, and held Duke star Cooper Flagg to a mediocre night. Flagg, a NPOY candidate, has struggled quite a bit during this week’s games, and analysts are concerned.

On The Field of 68: After Dark, show hosts Rob Dauster, Jeff Goodman, and Mike LaTulip reacted to the surprising upset. LaTulip discussed the common denominator with Duke’s losses, and how experience played a role in their defeat. “If there’s a common theme this year with Duke, the three losses that they have, Kansas is the oldest team in college basketball, Kentucky is fourth, and Clemson is ninth in terms of experience.”

He explained the strategy behind the Tigers victory on Saturday. “What Clemson did tonight with Duke was say we’re just gonna try to out-physical you.” LaTulip said, emphasizing on the way they targeted Flagg both on offense and defense. “And every time Cooper Flagg comes off a little brush screen or rub screen at the top of the key, we’re giving him a little chicken wing. A little elbow in the ribs, we’re gonna be physical with you.”

Between Ian Schieffelin and Cooper Flagg, the Clemson forward has a clear weight advantage which they capitalized on. “When he’s on defense, Schieffelin, we’re trying to get deep post position. We’re trying to post you.” Schieffelin had a solid game, putting up a 12 point double-double against the Blue Devils.

Regardless of skill and mindset, thirty-five pounds of added mass becomes very hard to stop on defense. With added physicality on top of the weight, it turns into a difficult situation for the Duke forward. But the issue with Flagg runs deeper than what we can see. The Maine Event hasn’t looked like himself for a couple of games, and analysts are getting worried about his confidence.

Cooper Flagg’s lack of confidence, is he reverting to his old ways?

On the most recent episode of The Field of 68: After Dark, Mike LaTulip shared his concerns about Cooper Flagg’s confidence and shot tendency. “At one point in that game, I was looking around like, is he getting gun-shy again? Almost like he was a little bit earlier in the year.” 

He was referring to the way Flagg started off his collegiate career. Even though he always stuffed the stat-sheet, there were some definite growing pains for the star from Maine. “There was one play with about seven minutes left where the ball got swung to him at the top of the key, and the Cooper Flagg we’ve seen over the past two months would have just catch it, no hesitation, and rose up with it. But he hesitated.” 

The Duke star has been leading by example for the past few months. As soon as he got used to the play style, Flagg took over. However, the last two games haven’t been ideal for him. In the blowout victory against Syracuse earlier this week, Cooper Flagg put up only 11 points and 5 rebounds in 28 minutes played.

Duke fans can only hope that this is a rough patch for the Maine Event. Everyone knows that Flagg is capable of a lot more than what he has shown over the last two games. Cooper Flagg will be pivotal for the Blue Devils in March, and is a strong runner for NPOY honors. He just needs to back himself more.