Kon Knueppel demonstrates why he is generating draft lottery buzz in Duke’s Elite Eight rout of Alabama

NEWARK, N.J. — As most of his Duke teammates let shots fly about 45 minutes before tipoff Saturday, Kon Knueppel quietly sat in a courtside seat and occasionally exchanged words with assistant coach Emanuel Dildy.

Yet by the time the game clock hit its final minute, Knueppel had thrown his arms into the air and hollered, encouraging the Blue Devils supporters who had flocked to the Prudential Center to start celebrating their return to the Final Four.

On a night when superstar Cooper Flagg struggled to find his shooting touch, Knueppel stepped into the No. 1-seeded Blue Devils’ leading scorer role, finishing with 21 points in their 85-65 Elite Eight rout of second-seeded Alabama. The freshman wing also added five rebounds, five assists, and three steals, and was part of the perimeter defensive effort that shut down the Crimson Tide’s lethal three-point shooting that had set an NCAA Tournament record two nights earlier.

» READ MORE: Cooper Flagg’s dazzling Sweet 16 performance shows why NBA teams are tanking to draft him

It all demonstrated why evaluators have pegged Knueppel as a top-10, plug-and-play NBA draft prospect whenever Duke’s NCAA charge concludes.

“With such talented players, it changes from game to game,” Knueppel said of his role with the Blue Devils. “And that’s how it’s going to be for the rest of my career. You try to be as effective as you can in any area … but you’ve got to be aggressive at all times.”

Though landing Flagg is the ultimate dream for the 76ers — and any team jockeying for lottery positioning during the final two weeks of the NBA’s regular season — Knueppel is more likely to be in their range if they keep their top-six-protected pick. Ditto for Blue Devils big man Khaman Maluach, who totaled another sound 14 points on 6-of-7 shooting from the floor and nine rebounds against Alabama. The Sixers entered Sunday with the NBA’s fifth-worst record, but if the draft lottery slots them seventh or lower, that pick instead will go to the Oklahoma City Thunder because of a 2020 trade.

Knueppel’s shooting splits this season — 48% from the floor, 39.9% on 5.4 three-point attempts per game, and 90.7% from the free-throw stripe — immediately stand out, making him the latest in a distinguished line of Duke flamethrowers. But the 6-foot-7, 217-pounder’s size and strength also serve him well on both ends of the floor, allowing him to drive, finish, and defend. Couple that with a sharp basketball IQ and in-the-moment feel for the game, aiding his passing ability.

» READ MORE: BYU’s Kevin Young calls Sixers tenure ‘the most important time of my life as a young coach.’ Here’s why.

All of that popped Saturday against the Crimson Tide.

Knueppel scored 11 points in the game’s first 13 minutes, perhaps a cause and effect of the team more frequently putting the ball in his hands to create opportunities. During that opening stretch, he made a driving layup, buried a corner three-pointer that put Duke up 11 points about midway through the first half, and converted a spinning and-one in the lane.

He then mixed in more playmaking in the second half. A nifty pass from the corner to a cutting Tyrese Proctor for the finish. A lob to Maluach for one of his signature alley-oop slams. A drive and dish to Sion James for a dunk.

“I don’t know if that was the plan going in or if I just got a hot hand early,” Knueppel said. “But yeah, just tried to step up in whatever role I need to do for the team. It’s not necessarily something I’ve thought about across the year, but just whenever I had the ball, make the right play and go from there.”

That performance followed Knueppel’s efficient Sweet 16 outing against Arizona, when he totaled 20 points on 5-of-7 shooting from the floor and 8-of-9 marksmanship from the free-throw line.

Intangibles also peppered Knueppel’s two games in Newark. On Saturday, he twice dove into the courtside press row to try to save a loose ball. He put his arm around Maluach when a couple of alley-oop tries went awry. Against Arizona, he enthusiastically banged the floor while waiting at the scorer’s table when Mason Gillis drained a massive corner three-pointer, and chest-bumped Patrick Ngongba when his and-one floater fell through the net.

In between those games, Knueppel flashed a personality that was subdued and blunt.

After Duke surrendered 93 points against Arizona, he indicated that his team’s typically stout defense stunk. He acknowledged nerves when he first faced Arizona in an early season matchup, but that those feelings had mostly dissipated in the rematch because he is no longer getting sped up with the ball. He added that it’s “really, really hard” to play with four fouls, a predicament he faced for much of Thursday’s second half, and that “you feel like you’re letting guys down a little bit.” He pushed back on a question about potential fatigue, noting that the only reason he might be tired is because he was still inside the arena at 1 a.m., as Thursday became Friday.

That Knueppel was ready for the moment Saturday is partially because of what Duke coach Jon Scheyer called the “incredible luxury” of his team’s scoring “three-headed monster,” which includes Flagg and Proctor. That means Knueppel is not always guarded by the opponent’s best defender, opening opportunities to attack. Then, Knueppel’s versatility and technique — such as pivot footwork and patience in the paint — can take over, the coach said.

“You feel he’s always going to get off a good look,” Scheyer said.

Those skills also stem from being immersed in the definition of a basketball family. His father, also named Kon, was inducted into Wisconsin Lutheran College’s Hall of Fame after amassing 2,000 points during a stellar career. His mother, Chari, is Wisconsin-Green Bay’s all-time leading scorer. And Kon is the eldest of five brothers — Kager, Kinston, Kash, and Kid are the others — who all play.

The younger Kon claims he did not initially enjoy the sport. But that changed around third grade, when he began reading basketball encyclopedias and playing NBA Jam on his Nintendo Wii. Even when Kon did not yet possess the strength to get the ball all the way to the hoop, he said, he was “obsessed” with having proper shooting form. He eventually grew to admire players such as Khris Middleton, a crafty scorer who blossomed into an All-Star and won an NBA title with his hometown Milwaukee Bucks.

Kon shrugged off a question during Friday’s media session about the possibility that his brothers could follow in his Duke footsteps — like the three Plumlees, Tyus and Tre Jones, or Boozer twins Cayden and Cameron (the sons of Blue Devils legend, Carlos), who have signed with the school. Instead, Kon lit up while talking about Kager and Kinston recently winning a state title, and the “super-fun weekend” that created for his family. At least two of those brothers were in the Prudential Center crowd Saturday, rocking screen-print T-shirts featuring Kon and his “K2″ nickname.

Now, big brother is off to the Final Four. As Duke staged its massive run to finish off the dominant victory, Knueppel dove on the floor to swipe a steal, which eventually led to Flagg finishing a layup to give the Blue Devils a late 18-point advantage.

It was a fitting end to night when Knueppel stepped in while Flagg looked a tad mortal — and demonstrated why he is worthy of his own draft buzz.

“He doesn’t miss much,” Alabama coach Nate Oats said of Knueppel. “… There’s a reason he’s going to be a lottery pick this year.”