CHARLOTTE, NC — Duke survived a ferocious finish against rival North Carolina with a 74-71 win to advance to the ACC tournament championship game, but the Blue Devils won’t have star Cooper Flagg for the game, head coach Jon Scheyer confirmed Friday.
Flagg left Thursday’s win over Georgia Tech late in the first half after rolling his ankle, and Scheyer said the star freshman has a severe sprain that will keep him out of Saturday’s title matchup against Louisville.
“He’s doing better,” Scheyer said. “All the imaging came back negative, but he sprained it pretty good. It’s a good sprain. I’m not breaking any news. He’s not going to play [Saturday].”
Duke likely has a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament locked up regardless of Saturday’s outcome, putting the onus on getting Flagg healthy for the Blue Devils’ first game there — something Scheyer said he’s optimistic about.
“Our goal is to have him ready for the tournament,” Scheyer said. ” But we need to see how this weekend goes with the swelling and what he can do.”
Duke also lost Maliq Brown during Thursday’s game against Georgia Tech. Brown, who has battled injury this season, dislocated his shoulder for the second time in the past month.
“We need to give [him] a couple days,” Scheyer said. “We need to get back to campus and figure this thing out. There’s no expectation of him playing any time soon.”
With Flagg and Brown sidelined, freshman center Patrick Ngongba II got significantly more time against UNC and played well.
Still, Scheyer said playing without Flagg, in particular, was a big adjustment.
“The thing we missed the most, we had some lineups in there we hadn’t had,” Scheyer said. “We were in a little bit different spots 30 games in. So, some of the execution and the timing probably wasn’t to the level I’d want it to be. Overall, I thought our guys did a good job adjusting on the fly … but obviously, it’s different not having [Flagg] out there.”
