Charlotte – Duke Freshman Cooper Flagg injured his left ankle with 2:46 left during the first half of the ACC tournament quarter final against Georgia Tech on Thursday and was helped by the court by teammates.
Flag, this year’s Atlantic Coast Conference Player, returned to Blue Devils’ bench under its own power without crutches or a walk.
Flag left his feet to gather a defensive rebound and landed difficult on his left leg and immediately seized his upper man and lower left rail area. He is excluded from the game, the highest ranked Blue Devils first in the conference tournament on Thursday morning.
At halftime, ESPN’s cameras showed flags that were shot in a wheelchair in the dressing room towards the -ray room. Later he was seen going without help.
Georgia Tech led by as many as 13 during the first half and was up 26-17 when flag went out, and the yellow jackets took a lead 31-26 in half over Duke. It was the season’s largest half -time deficit for Blue Devils.
Before the injury, flag had two points on 1-for-7 shooting but had four returns, two steal and one blocked shot.
Duke missed his first 11 3-point attempt and shot only 2-for-16 from 3-point intervals during the first half but came out after half time on a 21-9 run to take a lead of 48-40 with 11:03 left in the second half.
Flag came up, but quickly lifted its left foot from the ground to balance one leg and celebrate with teammates when Blue Devils built an advantage of 54-43 at timeout for 8 years during the second half.
The prominent beginner, 18, is expected to be No. 1 choice in the 2025 NBA draft.
Flag is ranked among the conference’s top 10 this season in points (third, 19.4/game), rebounds (eighth, 7.6), assists (eighth, 4.2), steal (10, 1.5) and block (eighth, 1.3).
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