DURHAM – A few possessions into Duke’s game against Notre Dame, Cooper Flagg noticed something on offense: The Irish were leaving him wide open in the corner.

“I’m going to take the open shots and make the right play,” he thought.

Over and over he did, and it’s exactly what Duke needed against a pesky opponent.

Flagg poured in an ACC freshman record 42 points, including four key free throws in the final minute, four 3-pointers and another sensational dunk, to help the Blue Devils hold off the Irish 86-78 on Saturday afternoon at Cameron Indoor Stadium.

Flagg was 11 of 14 from the field, grabbed six rebounds and dished out seven assists in the record-setting performance. He drew 13 fouls, and was 16 of 17 from the free throw line.

The output formed a laundry list of accolades. It’s the most points by any Duke player since Danny Ferry’s program record 58 against Miami in 1988, the fifth most in Duke history and most by a Blue Devil in Cameron Indoor Stadium since Tate Armstrong’s 42 in 1976.

“I feel like this is one of my more aggressive performances, just coming out ready and on fire from the start,” Flagg said. “I also want to give credit to my teammates – they were giving me open looks from the jump.”

His previous scoring high was 26, against Kentucky.

“It’s an incredible thing to hear,” he added of the names he’s now included next to as part of Duke’s 40-point club. “There have been so many incredible players to go through here. That’s really special.”

He hit the 40-point mark at the most critical moment.

Duke (14-2, 6-0 ACC) led by 18 with six minutes left, but soon saw that lead dwindle to five in the final minute after Matt Allocco’s corner 3-pointer. Flagg hadn’t taken a shot since his jumper with 7:39 on the clock – which also became the Blue Devils’ final make from the field. They missed five 3-pointers in that span.

Notre Dame’s Markus Burton, the reigning ACC Rookie of the Year, sank a jumper to cut the deficit to 80-76 with 32 seconds remaining.

Duke broke the Irish press and got the ball to Flagg, who drew a foul and drained a pair of free throws. The Cameron Indoor Stadium crowd, which had been yelling for Flagg to get the ball across the last several possessions, erupted to acknowledge the history-making performance.

“They decided the thing they were willing to live with in the beginning was his shooting. He didn’t hesitate to shoot, and he ended up hitting,” said Duke coach Jon Scheyer. “The last couple of weeks, he’s been really decisive. He hasn’t played with the ball as much. And his passing is off the charts. It creates a situation: do you double or do you not? For him, he’s done a great job recognizing the defense and attacking whatever’s there for him.”

Khaman Maluach snagged a rebound on the following possession, Flagg made two more free throws and Duke escaped with its 10th consecutive victory.

While the Blue Devils shot 53.3% from the field, their fifth straight game above 50%, Notre Dame (7-9, 1-4) was 47.4% – the second highest of any Duke opponent this year.

“We weren’t as sharp as we wanted to be, but we showed that we are as tough as we want to be,” Sion James said. “We didn’t give up. A lot of teams would give up, but we didn’t give up and found a way to win.

“We left our foot off the gas a lot today.”

Their foot was firmly on the pedal to start the game.

Duke drained four of its first five 3-pointers to race out to a 14-0 lead. Its first possession ended in an alley-oop from Flagg to Maluach, the first of five times they’d connect this afternoon.

The Blue Devils really wanted to get Maluach going to capitalize on an advantage at the rim. He put down a couple alley-oops and finished with a career-high 19 points, his second straight game in double figures, and 10 rebounds.

“It’s something we’ve been working on all season,” said Maluach, who also played a season-high 32 minutes. “I feel like it’s starting to click between me and (Flagg).”

Late in the first half, with Duke up 16 and things proceeding as planned, Flagg drove on Allocco. He was called for a charge, prompting an irate Scheyer to storm onto the court in protest – earning himself a technical foul.

Braeden Shrewsberry missed both free throws, but the Irish went on a 12-4 run to end the half – capped by Shrewsberry’s buzzer-beating jumper – and cut the deficit to eight. Notre Dame made 7 of its last 10 shots to finish the half after missing 10 of its first 15.

Flagg took over in the second half. He scored 16 of Duke’s first 22 points, including yet another sensational dunk.

Yes, another one.

He drove the lane, corralled a pass from James and threw down a one-handed tomahawk slam to give the Blue Devils a 13-point lead with 14 minutes remaining.

He went up with so much force that Notre Dame’s Tae Davis simply moved out of the way.

“The stats speak for themselves, but more than that, it was his timing of key plays,” Scheyer said. “Any time we needed a basket, he came through. He just willed us. The fact that it translated to 42 was great. To me it was just his competitiveness and his timing of key plays.”

Scheyer added: "To get off to a 14-0 start is great. For us to play in a tight game was really good also, because you have to make plays and feel the value of every possession on the defensive end and offensive end. We had some uncharacteristic turnovers down the stretch. I thought it was a great experience and a really good win for us.”

TIP-INS: It was the second technical of Scheyer’s tenure. “I don’t want to get into the officiating because I have a ton of respect for those guys. People are going to do things to try to make it easier to guard (Flagg). Grabbing and holding is gonna be something that’s there. It wasn’t just one play isolated.” … Maliq Brown exited in the first half with what Scheyer said was an apparent knee injury. … Notre Dame remains winless against teams from the Tar Heel State this season, with losses to Elon, North Carolina, NC State and now Duke. Burton led the Irish with 23 points. … Duke hosts Miami at 9 p.m. Tuesday.