Duke advanced in the ACC Tournament with a 78-70 quarterfinal win over Georgia Tech. It remains to be seen whether the Blue Devils survived.
Duke had key players on a stretcher and in a wheelchair at halftime, and the status of both Blue Devils is in question as the postseason continues.
Maliq Brown, who battled a shoulder dislocation earlier this season, appeared to reinjure the shoulder in the first half.
“Maliq was in a lot of pain,” said coach Jon Scheyer, “and he re-dislocated his shoulder. That’s why we got him a stretcher just because — to tolerate the pain. He was in a lot of pain. He’s at the hospital now. We’ll figure out how he’s doing. I’m going to try to figure out if I can go see him right now.”
While Brown is one of the team’s defensive leaders, Duke’s second injury hold the potential of being far more impactful. Cooper Flagg, who led the Blue Devils in scoring, rebounding, assists, steals and blocks this season, winning ACC Player and Rookie of the Year, went down clutching his ankle after getting a defensive rebound later in the half. He had to be helped to the locker room by two teammates and was seen in a wheelchair at halftime.
Flagg’s x-rays were negative, and he returned to the team bench in the second half. Scheyer said he had a sprain, however, and it wasn’t clear how severe the injury was.
“We just have to understand there’s going to be swelling and see how he recovers and how he goes from there,” he said.
With the possibility of facing arch nemesis North Carolina in the ACC semifinals, Scheyer was pessimistic about Flagg’s availability.
“To be honest with you, I would have to be, like, convinced by everybody in the locker room when I go back there that he should play,” Scheyer said. “It’s not worth it. It just isn’t. Again, he was swollen already. It’s not about being ready to go tomorrow. That’s not the most important thing for us. We’ve got to see if we can get him right for this run that we can make in the tournament.”
First, however, Duke had to escape Georgia Tech. In addition to losing Brown and Flagg, the Blue Devils trailed by as many as 14 points and misfired on their first 13 three-point shot attempts in the first half.
“Honestly, for most of the game, we didn’t do what we were supposed to do, said Sion James. “We weren’t tough enough. We weren’t physical enough.”
Freshman Isaiah Evans hit a pair from deep at the end of the half and finished the game 4-of-8 from three for 14 points. Freshman Kon Knueppel also picked up the scoring slack, scoring 28 points in the game and dishing out eight assists. After being outrebounded by four in the first half, Duke outrebounded the Yellow Jackets by 11 the rest of the way.
“You’re not entitled to the next game in the postseason,” said Knueppel. “So you’ve just got to take them one at a time. We did today. Hopefully, we get off to a better start tomorrow.”
