Skip Bayless unleashes criticism on Cooper Flagg despite double-digit first-half lead vs. Baylor

Skip Bayless never holds back in his criticism of athletes. He’s enjoying March Madness like other college basketball fans across the country. And on Sunday, despite the Duke Blue Devils being up by 17 points at halftime, he had some criticism for Cooper Flagg. Bayless wanted him to be more assertive, aggressive, and defer to his teammates less.

“Cooper Flagg had 15 on 5 shot attempts in the first half to lead all scorers – Duke up 17 – while being unselfish to a fault. Again and again I said, “Come on, just attack” as he worked the ball around to teammates. He could’ve had 30 if he wanted.” Bayless explained.

While Flagg and the Blue Devils were given a pretty good game in the first half, Duke has stretched their lead and begun to look like the historically dominant team they’ve been all season long. There’s a reason their average margin of victory has been over 21 points per game–first in the country in that stat. There are simply too many weapons on their roster.

When Flagg has that many gifted teammates around him, it’s hard to blame him for sharing the ball. Tyrese Proctor was torching the nets, connecting on five of six three-pointers. He had 19 points with 5:21 remaining in the second half. Proctor drilled seven of his eight three-pointers, finishing with 25 points for the game. He became the first player since 2010 with five or more three-pointers in back-to-back NCAA Tournament games. The last Duke player to do so was Jon Scheyer.

Duke demolished Baylor in blowout fashion, 89-66. They officially punched their tickets to the Sweet 16. Cooper Flagg finished with 19 points, nine rebounds, and six assists. While he might not have scored as many points as people like Bayless would have liked, the Blue Devils handled business and that’s the name of the game in March Madness.