University male basketball: Duke’s flag returns for the second half after eye injury – Salisbury Post

By Bob Sutton Associated Press

Durham – Duke’s players see the hardness of Freshman Cooper Flagg star on a regular basis and that was on display for everyone else on Saturday night.

Flagg returned to the second half of the victory of the 100-65 of the Blue Devils No. 2 over the state of Florida after leaving in the first half after a hard foul when he was pushed in the eye.

“He was beaten and scratched,” said his teammate Sion James. “Cooper is one of the toughest types I have played. I trusted that if I was fine, I would come back. I was back and better than ever. “

Coach Jon Scheyer described the injury as a bruised eyelid. The subject was personal for Scheyer, a Duke student whose professional career ended up abroad due to an eye injury.

“As a basketball player, you don’t think about hurting your eye,” Scheyer said. “That doesn’t cross you. I had never seen him seem scared. I thought I was scared at first, rightly, because you don’t know how serious or permanent. … I was really nervous for him.

Flagg was out of more than 11 minutes to finish half, while the team doctor reviewed it. He returned to the court during the first 12 minutes of the second half, finishing the game with 16 points in 5 for 9 shots. I was not available to talk to journalists after the game.

“He had some vision problems in the first half and tried it and said he was ready to leave, and it was,” said Scheyer. “… It’s so hard. His mother is screaming that he recovers and defends himself if he returns to the game, so I didn’t have to say much.”

Kon Knueppel classmate said he was surprised that Flagg was in action for the second half.

“Seeing him fall and stay down, that worries you a bit,” Knueppel said. “Only a couple of scratches on his face.”

For James, it was another example of the aura around Flagg.

“That is not the craziest that we have seen him do all year,” James said. “We have seen it do crazy things. That is what he does who he is. “

Previously, Flagg made a movement towards the lane and Jerry Deng by Florida State Deng. Alier Maluk, a 7 -foot first -year student, also hit Flagg on the face during the sequence.

Flagg, who has considered the potential general draft selection of the NBA, came out cautiously from the court with the help of teammate Mason Gillis and coach José Fonseca with remaining 11:27. Duke led 14-11 at that time.

Flagg, a 9 -inch 6 -foot phenomenon, had just returned to the game after being treated on the bench by Fonseca by an apparent cut on his face.

Flagg left the gym for an additional evaluation before returning to the bank a few minutes later. But in the next waiting time, he did not join the rest of the Blue Devils in the group around Scheyer. I was encouraging from the bank while the Blue Devils extended their two -digit advantage. Then, with approximately 5 1/2 minutes on the clock in the middle, he left the gym again and returned to the bank a few minutes later.

Duke led 47-30 at the break.

Flagg entered the game with an average of 19.4 points, 7.6 rebounds and 4.1 assists.

Duke was no longer without the starting owner Tyrese Proctor, who suffered a knee injury on Tuesday night in Miami, and the injured support striker Maliq Brown,

At the beginning of the week, Flagg established a record of the Atlantic Coast Conference when selected as a rookie action of the week for the eleventh time.

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