Is Cooper Flagg playing today? Injury update for Duke basketball vs Mount St. Mary's
One of men's college basketball's biggest stars is back for the NCAA Tournament.
Duke basketball star guard Cooper Flagg is expected to be back in the Starting Five for the No. 1 seeded Blue Devils on Thursday when they kick off their hopeful national championship run against No. 16 seed Mount St. Mary's at 2:50 p.m. ET at Lenovo Center in Raleigh, North Carolina.
Flagg, who is a leading candidate for Naismith National Player of the Year, has been dealing with a sprained left ankle injury over the last week that kept him out of Duke's ACC tournament semifinal and championship games.
Despite missing two games in the ACC tournament, Flagg still leads Duke in every statistical category, including points (18.9 per game), rebounds (7.5), assists (4.1) and steals (1.5). He enters the NCAA Tournament shooting 48.8% from the field.
Duke is set to tip off against No. 16 Mount Saint Mary's in the first round of the 2025 NCAA Tournament on Friday, March 21 at the Lenovo Center in Raleigh, North Carolina. Mount St. Mary's defeated American in the First Four in Dayton, Ohio on Wednesday, March 19.
Here's the latest on Flagg and his status for the NCAA Tournament:
Is Cooper Flagg playing in March Madness? Duke basketball star's first-round status
Yes, Flagg is expected to play in Duke's March Madness opener on Friday. The Blue Devils made the announcement official on their X (formerly Twitter) account Thursday afternoon.
"I’m feeling pretty good," Flagg said Thursday during a media availability in Raleigh, North Carolina. "We have an incredible team, incredible training staff, so we’ve been working through the steps of just getting back, getting to 100 percent. I’m very confident moving forward"
Coop update --> active tomorrow vs. Mount St. Mary's
— Duke Men’s Basketball (@DukeMBB) March 20, 2025
🕺🕺🕺🕺👿 @Cooper_Flaggpic.twitter.com/V5fDURoYPF
During an appearance on ESPN's "Bracketology" show on Selection Sunday, Duke coach Jon Scheyer said the Blue Devils' plans for Flagg was to have him back for Friday's NCAA Tournament opener.
"From my perspective, it's full steam ahead. I want to get Coop back as quickly as I can, and he wants to do the same. Obviously, tomorrow is important. Today was an off day, we got back late (from the ACC tournament)," Scheyer said Sunday on ESPN. "We are hoping he can start to progress starting tomorrow with doing some on-court work and then build up to where he can practice later in the week.
"Our goal is for Friday. No question about that."
Cooper Flagg injury update
Flagg left in the first half of Duke's ACC tournament quarterfinal win against Georgia Tech on Thursday, March 13 with an apparent left ankle injury.
The 6-foot-9 guard's injury came at the 2:48 mark of the half after he came down with a defensive rebound following a missed 3-point attempt from Georgia Tech's Jaeden Mustaf. As Flagg was coming down with the rebound, he appeared to have landed in an awkward position, resulting in him falling immediately down on the court.
After walking off with a hobble and sitting on the bench briefly, Flagg head back to the locker room for further testing.
Cooper Flagg exited the game and was helped to the locker room after appearing to injure his left ankle in the first half against Georgia Tech. pic.twitter.com/EiUslVt0ZM
— ESPN (@espn) March 13, 2025
ESPN's cameras showed Flagg being wheeled to the X-ray room at the Spectrum Center in Charlotte, North Carolina right before halftime. As he sat in the wheelchair, Flagg did not have his injured left ankle resting on the left footrest of the wheelchair; instead, he kept it elevated.
After Duke's 78-70 win over Georgia Tech, Scheyer told the media in Charlotte that Flagg's X-rays were negative.
He returned to the Blue Devils' bench on his own power for the second half but was ruled out from returning to the game due to injury. He ended the game with just two points.
What injury did Cooper Flagg have?
Flagg missed two ACC tournament games with a sprained left ankle.
At a media availability on Thursday ahead of Duke's first-round game vs. Mount Saint Mary's, Scheyer spoke further on Flagg's injury and the progress his star guard has made.
"The time off, I think, has helped him, his explosiveness, he's getting a little bit of rest. The ACC Tournament is a grind. The regular season tournament is a grind," Scheyer said. "... We built him up slowly and really progressed him the right way, but he's ready to go. In his mind, he was ready last weekend, but he wasn't.
"But he's been itching to get out there."
Cooper Flagg stats
Here's a look at Flagg's season stats entering his first NCAA Tournament:
- Points: 18.9
- Rebounds: 7.5
- Assists: 4.1
- Blocks: 1.3
- Steals: 1.5
- Shooting: 48.8
- 3-point shooting: 36.8%
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Cooper Flagg injury status for Duke-Mount St. Mary's March Madness game
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