Duke’s Flagg ‘doing much better’ but out for ACC last

• David HaleMar 14, 2025, 11:42 PM ET Close College football reporter.Joined ESPN

• in 2012.
• Graduate of the University of Delaware.CHARLOTTE, NC– Duke

made it through a relentless surface versus rival North Carolina with a 74-71 win to advance to the ACC competition championship game, however the Blue Devils will not 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 an extreme sprain that will keep him out of Saturday’s title matchup versus Louisville.”He’s doing much better,” Scheyer said.”All the imaging returned unfavorable, but he sprained it pretty good.

It’s an excellent sprain. I’m not breaking any news. He’s not going to play [Saturday] “Editor’s Picks 1 Related 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’ very first game there– something Scheyer said he’s optimistic about. “Our objective is to have him all set for the tournament,” Scheyer said.”But we require to see how this weekend chooses the swelling and what he can do.” Duke likewise lost Maliq Brown throughout Thursday’s game against Georgia Tech. Brown, who has battled injury this season, dislocated his shoulder for the 2nd time in

the previous month.” We need to give [him] a couple days, “Scheyer stated.”We require to get back to school and figure this thing out. There’s no expectation of him playing at 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 modification.

“The thing we missed out on the most, we had some lineups in there we hadn’t had,”Scheyer stated.”We remained in a little bit different

spots 30 games in. So, some of the execution and the timing most likely wasn’t to the level I ‘d want it to be. Overall, I thought our guys did a great task changing on the fly … however obviously, it’s different not having [Flagg] out there.”