Duke basketball fans expected freshman superstar Cooper Flagg to tear apart his opponents during his first men’s NCAA Tournament, but for a one-minute stretch of Friday’s first-round showdown with Mount St. Mary’s, the Mountaineers couldn’t slow down center Khaman Maluach.

Maluach, a 7-foot-2 big man who represented South Sudan in the Olympic Games last summer, averaged 8.3 points, 6.8 rebounds, and 1.2 blocks through the ACC Tournament, but he looked unstoppable midway through the opening half.

With the Blue Devils already up by 15 points in the first frame, Maluach snuck back to the perimeter to save junior guard Tyrese Proctor from a double-team. When none of the Mountaineers came out to meet him, he fired off his 16th 3-point attempt of the season.

It found its mark, his fourth triple of the year and second in his last three games, and the Mount St. Mary’s players looked unsure how to stop a center with that tool in his toolbox.

After a quick Mount St. Mary’s turnover, Sion James found Maluach for an alley-oop dunk, and Cooper Flagg found Maluach for the exact same thing on Duke’s next possession. Seven points in 57 seconds for the first-year big man, who had nine for the game after the last jam.

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