Charlotte-Duke lost Cooper flag to a left ankle injury during the first half, then gathered behind the beginner Kon Knueppel to defeat Georgia Tech, 78-70, in the ACC tournament quarter on Thursday.
Knueppel received a career high 28 points with eight assists and five returns in 39 minutes to drive Duke to a 29th victory, and gathered the blue devils from a 14-point deficit during the first half without his beginner co-star.
“I couldn’t be more proud,” said Duke coach Jon Scheyer. “You are facing a team that fights for their life. We suffer from two injuries during the first half and respond to everything that was really impressive. So many guys got up and the cow was so solid all the time.”
Knueppel became the first Duke player to set up at least 25-5-5 in an ACC tournament game.
“I was not on the bench much in the second half,” Knueppel said about what flag shared his status when he returned to the bench. “But it was good to see him moving out there.”
Scheyer said after the match that the -rays in the flag’s left ankle at the stadium were negative, but the blue devils monitor the injury and anticipate that swelling will be a challenge.
Flag scored two points and left the match before half time after injuring his left ankle while collecting a defensive recovery.
“I knew I had to get up. The coach told me during the second half that I needed to get up, I did my best for,” Knueppel said. “We have many like -minded players and many talented players. When guys are out, we have the ability to rise.”
Freshmen filled the point with flag. Isaiah Evans and Khaman Maluach both received 14 points for Duke (29-3), which meets either Fifth-seeded North Carolina or fourth Seeded Wake Forest in Friday night’s first semi-final game.
Flag, the potential No. 1 election in the NBA draft that was named this year’s ACC player and the ACC beginner earlier this week, was 1-for-7 from the field before leaving not long after blue devils forward Maliq Brown returned his left shoulder. Brown did not return and Scheyer said he left the stadium on a stretcher with a displaced shoulder. This is the second time this season he had the same injury.
“Next man up. We have to play a little differently than we do with Cooper and Maliq,” Knueppel said about how Blue Devils will approach the semi -finals with important players unsafe. “We have to be ready to go.”
Duncan Powell’s 24 points and Baye Ndongo’s 15 points led the eighth-seeded Georgia Tech (17-16), who shot 42.8 percent (26 out of 61) from the field. Lance Terry added 12 points.
Duke dragged by five at half time, its biggest deficit at the break this season, but got the first 12 points in the second half. When Jaeden Mustaf made a car ride, more than five minutes had gone by half.
Duke produced a 19-2 driving that stretched over the two halves.
But Georgia Tech regrouped. The yellow jackets closed the gap to 43-40 before another Duke Brast which included 3-points from Knueppel and Evans that created a lead of 54-43 at timeout under 8.
The other offensive misery of the yellow jackets resembled Duke’s problems during the first half. Georgia Tech succeeded only 13 points during the first 13 minutes of the second half.
Blue Devils finished 7-for-30 on 3-points, with Evans who made four.
Duke beat 26-12 and started the game 0-for-13 on 3-point attempts. Evans met a couple of 3 late half to close the gap to 31-26 at the break.
Georgia Tech’s Ndongo had 11 points in the first half, while no Duke player had more than six.
Duke beat Georgia Tech for the second time this season, although the other came before Christmas in Atlanta (82-56) and without drama that developed Thursday.
-Bob Sutton, Field Level Media
