AP men’s player of the week: Duke’s Cooper Flagg makes ACC history

By Canadian Press on January 14, 2025.

The Associated Press national player of the week in men’s college basketball for Week 10 of the season:

Cooper Flagg, Duke

The 18-year-old made Atlantic Coast Conference history with third-ranked Duke to win the AP’s top weekly honor for the second time this season.

The 6-foot-9 freshman forward scored 42 points in Saturday’s victory over Notre Dame to set an ACC freshman single-game record. He went 11 of 14 from the floor, making 4 of 6 3-pointers, and hit 16 of 17 foul shots — with the 16 made free throws standing as a Duke freshman record.

It was the best scoring output by a Blue Devils player since Danny Ferry had a program-record 58 points at Miami in December 1988, and it was the most by a Duke player at Cameron Indoor Stadium since 1976. Flagg also had six rebounds and seven assists in that huge performance.

Flagg started the week with 19 points, 10 rebounds, five assists, two blocks, one steal and one highlight-reel coast-to-coast dunk in a romp against a Pittsburgh team that was unbeaten in ACC play. He also swept the ACC honors for player of the week and rookie of the week for the third time this season.

Runner-up

Curtis Jones, Iowa State. The 6-4 senior guard kept the second-ranked Cyclones among the national elite in wins against Utah and Texas Tech. He had 23 points, five rebounds and six assists against the Utes, then had 26 points on the road against the Red Raiders. Jones made 18 of 32 shots (.563) and 6 of 14 3-pointers (.429) while committing no turnovers in 67 minutes of work. He was named the Big 12’s player of the week.

Honorable mention

AJ Clayton, Ohio; Asa Newell, Georgia.

Keep an eye on

Braden Smith, Purdue. The 6-0 junior continues to be an elite playmaker for the 17th-ranked Boilermakers, entering the week ranked third in Division I by averaging 9.2 assists per game.

Smith had 16 points and 14 assists last week in a win at Rutgers, then followed that with another 14-assist game in a romp against Nebraska. Just as impressively, Smith committed only five turnovers to have a better than 5:1 assist-to-turnover ratio.

Smith has tallied at least 10 assists in four of the past five games entering a trip west to play at Washington on Wednesday and No. 13 Oregon on Saturday.

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The Associated Press