It’s good to be needed … usually.
Maliq Brown has been one of the unsung reasons why the Duke defense works so well this season. He always seems to be in the right position—as evidenced by his team-leading total of deflections, a stat that Duke managers track during games.
Unfortunately for Brown, his season with the Blue Devils got deflected when he went down with a dislocated shoulder late in the year. After missing three weeks, he returned for the final regular season game and knocked down a pair of three-pointers, matching his total for the season up until that point.
“I wish I had his spirit,” Jon Scheyer said after the game. “To be off this entire time and to come out and hit those threes and make those plays. We have a versatile team, so certain games are going to just be somebody’s number more than others. I thought this game really fit Malik.”
It looked like a fairy tale ending for Brown’s season, but, in the very next game—Duke’s ACC Tournament opener—Brown dislocated the shoulder again. He didn’t play again that weekend or in the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament.
Then, two weeks after suffering the injury for a second time, Brown suited up in Newark for the Sweet 16. He wasn’t expecting to play. He just made himself available, if the team needed him.
In a whistle-filled game against Arizona, where everyone on both squads appeared to be in foul trouble, Duke needed him, and Brown delivered. He fought through the pain to give Duke a presence at the rim.
“I think it speaks a lot about who Maliq is and what he’s all about,” Scheyer said. “Look, he’s not 100 percent. He’s not close to it. And ideally he wouldn’t have played. It was more in an emergency. I thought he did some really good things in his minutes.
Two days later, against Alabama, Duke again needed him. And again, he responded.
“The intention was not to play him again,” Scheyer said. “And there was just that moment, Pat picked up the two, I thought it was a long game for Khaman, and Maliq came in and just gave us a good lift.”
