CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA — Duke could not have conceived a more unfavourable first half of the ACC tournament.
The concern arose not from the Blue Devils’ 31-26 deficit against Georgia Tech at halftime, but rather from standout freshman forward Cooper Flagg, a candidate for National Player of the Year, who twisted his left ankle with 2:46 remaining in the half and required emergency assistance off the court. Flagg leaped to secure a rebound but seemed to land on a teammate’s foot, causing him to collapse to the ground.
After his teammates aided him off the floor, Flagg struck his fists against his chair on Duke’s sideline before being escorted back to the Blue Devils’ locker room. The 6-foot-9 native of Maine was observed in a wheelchair while undergoing an X-ray.
Duke excluded Flagg from the remainder of the game; however, he returned to the Duke bench around five minutes into the second half.
His injury now significantly impacts Duke’s prospects in the ACC and NCAA Tournaments.
Flagg’s injury marked the second occurrence in the first half for a Blue Devils club considered among the frontrunners for the national championship. It occurred minutes after forward Maliq Brown, who has already missed nine games this season due to injury, re-injured a recent shoulder ailment. Brown, arguably the most adaptable defender on the nation’s fourth-ranked defence, was challenging a shot when he appeared to exacerbate his shoulder injury. Brown silently expressed his frustration to Duke’s trainers upon the occurrence of the injury and promptly returned to the locker room for treatment.
Duke additionally excluded Brown from the game, and he was removed from the arena on a stretcher. His eligibility for the NCAA Tournament remains questionable.
The timing is particularly unfortunate for Duke, which secured the outright ACC regular-season championship on Saturday with its 19th ACC win. The Blue Devils were strong favourites to secure consecutive conference crowns at this week’s league tournament, subsequently likely attaining a No. 1 seed on Selection Sunday. Coach Jon Scheyer’s third team has evidently been his most proficient, providing the Blue Devils a genuine opportunity to secure their first national championship since 2015, contingent upon their health.
A defeat against Georgia Tech on Thursday would not thwart those aspirations; however, the duo of injuries—particularly to Flagg, who dominates the squad in all significant statistical metrics—could. In the absence of Flagg and Brown, Scheyer relied on freshman large Patrick Ngongba and graduate wing Mason Gillis during the last minutes of the first half, as Duke reduced a 12-point lead to five by halftime.
