"Never seen a player sh*t the bed this bad": College hoops fans pounce on Kon Knueppel as Cooper Flagg's Duke choke vs Kentucky

No. 23 Kentucky Wildcats defeated No. 5 Duke Blue Devils 77-72 on Tuesday night at the Champions Classic in a thrilling matchup that had college basketball fans on the edge of their seats.

The Blue Devils were leading 46-37 at the end of the first half, but the Wildcats stormed back to maintain their perfect start to the season.

After Duke started to crumble in the second half, analyst Zion O. posted about the Duke players' performance on X/Twitter:

"This is one of the worst shooting performances I have ever seen. They're wide open shots lol. I'm not sure Duke will ever shoot this bad again but man, pick a better night for this."

Fans were particularly harsh on Duke freshman Kon Knueppel, who had a forgettable game, scoring 14 points on 5-of-20 shooting.

"kon knueppel is a lottery pick??? i’ve never seen a player sh** the bed this bad," one fan commented.

"Starting backcourt is like 6/18 and 11/37 including Kon. That’s horrendous," another fan wrote.

"Knueppel = overrated," one fan said.

"They both shot like this last year! They suck gonna be a long season if they don’t start knocking them down," one fan added.

"If we were just decent from 3 it would be over. Shi**ed the bed," one fan said, taking a dig at Knueppel's 3-point shooting, who went 1-of-8 beyond the arc.

"Nightmare," another fan chimed in.

Former Milwaukee Bucks star John Henson shared his thoughts on coach Jon Scheyer's young Duke team. He said on the "Field of 68: After Dark" podcast on Monday:

"I think tomorrow the young kids may struggle a little bit, but that's kind of just been the theme of Duke if we think over the last few years. Duke has talents but Cooper Flagg and those guys haven't been there yet and they're still learning."

Cooper Flagg's stats vs. Kentucky

Despite two costly turnovers in the final minute of the game, Duke freshman Cooper Flagg put forth an impressive performance in the defeat to Kentucky.

Flagg carried Duke with an impressive all-around performance, showing both his strengths and areas for growth. He finished with 26 points, 12 rebounds and two assists.

Cooper Flagg's stats vs. Kentucky

• 32 minutes played
• 26 points
• 12 rebounds
• 2 assists
• 2 blocks
• 9-19 FG
• 7-9 FT
• 1-5 3PT

Flagg was in a perfect position to mark a memorable win at his first Champions Classic matchup but the final minute miscues proved costly. Kentucky's Otega Oweh made four free throws to help the Wildcats ice the win.