Duke men’s basketball was given a scare in the ACC tournament on Thursday when Cooper Flagg went down on the floor at the Spectrum Center in Charlotte, North Carolina.
In the final minutes of the first half in Duke’s quarterfinal game vs. Georgia Tech, the freshman star guard was helped off the court and eventually sent back to the locker room after spraining his left ankle on an awkward landing on the floor following a defensive rebound.
The Blue Devils star was ruled out for the remainder of the game, which ended his day with just two points on 1 of 7 shooting from the field. Duke would go on to beat Georgia Tech 78-70.
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On Monday Flagg, who is widely considered the top overall pick in the NBA draft, became the fourth player in ACC history to win the conference’s Player and Rookie of the Year awards in the same season.
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Through 32 games, Flagg leads the Blue Devils in scoring (18.9), total points (604), total rebounds (240), total assists (131), total steals (49) and total blocks (40). He entered Thursday ranked 29th in the nation in scoring at then-19.4 points per game.
Here’s the latest on Flagg’s injury, including what his status might be for Friday’s ACC tournament semifinal:
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In his postgame news conference on Thursday, Duke coach Jon Scheyer called it a “long shot” for Flagg to play Friday vs. the Tar Heels when asked how he would handle Flagg’s availability knowing the NCAA Tournament starts next Thursday.
“Well, I already know how he’s wired. And look, 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. It’s not worth it. It just isn’t,” Scheyer said. “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.
“But I would have to be really convinced that we should even consider seeing if he can go tomorrow. He may not be able to go anyway. He probably won’t be able to go anyway. But I think it’s a real long shot. A real long shot.”
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Cooper Flagg injury update
At the 2:48 mark of the first half, Flagg suffered an apparent left ankle injury after coming down for a rebound.
As Flagg was coming down for the rebound and starting to turn back onto offense, it appeared all of his weight came down on his left ankle. This prompted him to fall hard on the court and hold his left ankle, as members of Duke’s coaching staff came out.
Shortly after being brought back to the locker room for observation, Flagg was seen being taken into an X-ray room at the Spectrum Center for further testing. As shown by ESPN’s cameras on Flagg, the 6-foot-9 guard appeared to be in pain and did not have his left foot on the footrest of the wheelchair.
He was then ruled out for the game after returning to the Blue Devils’ bench in the second half while still dressed. A positive sign for Duke when Flagg arrived on the bench was that he wasn’t wearing a boot and was able to walk on his own power.
What is Cooper Flagg’s injury?
Flagg is dealing with a sprained ankle, per Scheyer.
“Cooper, he just came down, sprained his ankle, X-rays were negative, which is great,” Scheyer said. “We just have to understand there’s going to be swelling and see how he recovers and how he goes from there.”
Cooper Flagg stats
Here’s a look at Flagg’s season stats entering Friday:
- Points: 18.9
- Rebounds: 7.5
- Assists: 4.1
- Blocks: 1.3
- Steals: 1.5
- Shooting: 48.8
- 3-point shooting: 36.8%
