Cooper Flagg injury update: Will Duke star play in ACC Tournament championship?

There has been no figure more prominent or breathlessly discussed during the 2024-25 men’s college basketball season than Cooper Flagg — and for good reason.

The Duke freshman phenom has lived up to every ounce of hype that greeted him at the college level.

The top prospect in the 2024 recruiting class and the projected No. 1 overall pick in the 2025 NBA draft has been the catalyst for a Blue Devils team that has been historically good statistically, with a 30-3 overall record heading into Saturday night’s men's ACC championship. At the head of that charge has been Flagg, who won ACC Player of the Year honors and is considered one of the front-runners for national player of the year, along with Auburn’s Johni Broome.

Earlier this week, though, a freshman season that had gone right in every possible way suddenly went wrong.

Late in the first half of Duke’s victory against Georgia Tech in the ACC Tournament quarterfinals, Flagg exited the game with an ankle injury. There was no structural damage to it, but coach Jon Scheyer noted it was a sprain, which has added a measure of uncertainty for the Blue Devils’ future at the most important time of the season.

What does Flagg’s injury mean for Duke as it prepares to play Louisville in the ACC championship game at the Spectrum Center in Charlotte on Saturday?

Here’s the latest on Flagg’s injury and his playing status:

Will Cooper Flagg play today vs Louisville?

Flagg will not play for Duke Saturday night in the ACC championship game against Louisville.

Scheyer shared the decision with reporters in a postgame news conference Friday after the Blue Devils’ win against archrival North Carolina in the ACC semifinals.

"As far as Cooper goes, he's doing better,” Scheyer said. “Sprained ankle, all the imaging came back negative. He sprained it pretty good, though. It's a good sprain. I'm not breaking any news. He's not going to play (Saturday). He can't play. But our goal is to have him ready for the tournament. But we need to see how this weekend goes with the swelling and what he can do."

The third-year Duke coach added that junior forward Maliq Brown, arguably the Blue Devils’ most important defensive player, will also not play. Brown re-dislocated his shoulder in the win against Georgia Tech Thursday, reaggravating an injury he suffered in a Feb. 17 victory at Virginia that sidelined him for nearly three weeks.

Without Flagg, Duke nearly squandered a 24-point second-half lead, but held on to defeat North Carolina 74-71, completing a three-game season sweep of the Tar Heels and potentially shutting the door on their Tobacco Road foe’s NCAA Tournament dreams.

The Blue Devils beat Louisville in their only previous meeting this season, a 76-65 road win on Dec. 8 in which Flagg had a team-high 20 points and 12 rebounds, though foul trouble limited him to 28 minutes.

Cooper Flagg injury update

Flagg’s stellar freshman season encountered an unexpected obstacle Thursday in the ACC Tournament quarterfinals, when he rose up for a rebound on a missed Georgia Tech 3-pointer.

As he landed on the floor with the ball secured, his left ankle turned at an awkward angle, sending Flagg down to the court grabbing at his lower leg in visible pain. He was tended to immediately by team trainers and was helped off the court. A pair of teammates helped walk him back to the locker room, where he was placed in a wheelchair and underwent further evaluation.

X-rays on his ankle came back negative, with Scheyer saying it was a sprain and describing a return for Friday’s ACC semifinal against North Carolina as a “long shot.”

“I would have to be, like, convinced by everybody in the locker room when I go back there that he should play,” Scheyer said. “It's not worth it. It just isn't. 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.”

Cooper Flagg stats

On a star-studded Duke team featuring several future NBA players, Flagg has been the biggest star on both ends of the floor.

The 6-foot-9 Maine native is averaging 18.9 points, 7.5 rebounds and 4.1 assists per game while shooting 48.8% from the field, 36.8% from 3-point range and 83% from the free-throw line.

He has been excellent defensively, as well, averaging 1.5 steals and 1.3 blocks per game. Flagg narrowly missed out on winning ACC defensive player of the year, an award that went to Louisville guard Chucky Hepburn.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Cooper Flagg injury update: Will Duke star play in ACC championship?