Cooper Flagg showed no limitations or effects from a recently sprained ankle, instead helping 1-seed Duke to a 93-49 blowout of 16-seed Mount St. Mary’s.
Duke left no doubt in its first NCAA Tournament game, cruising a 93-49 victory over 16-seed Mount St. Mary’s on Friday in Raleigh. The victory showcased the Blue Devils’ strength on both ends of the court. The result wasn’t a surprise, but all eyes were on star freshman Cooper Flagg, who was returning to action after spraining his ankle in the ACC Tournament.
If there was any concern about that injury lingering around, Flagg stomped it out quickly.
The 6-9, 205-pounder finished with 14 points, seven rebounds and four assists in just over 22 minutes. He also posted a game-high +31 in the plus/minus column while looking fluid on both ends. He threw down a few dunks offensively and came up with some blocks on the defensive end.
“I already felt 100% confident coming into tonight’s game,” Flagg said. “After watching the whole ACC Tournament, there was a plan to be ready for this game. We had a strategy to get back and get prepared, so we just followed it step by step.”
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‘You’re not promised your next game’
As for why Flagg was playing when oddsmakers expected Duke to win by 30-plus, head coach Jon Scheyer reminded reporters that this is a single-elimination tournament.
“You don’t take any game for granted,” Scheyer said. “It’s very easy to say [Flagg] should just rest, but you want to have your best team, and you’re not promised your next game. I didn’t think that Cooper did, but you have some natural rust. [He] got some game experience to understand what the tournament was like.
“For me, there wasn’t a question — and for him, there wasn’t a question — but we wouldn’t have played him if he wasn’t ready.”
Flagg was not alone in looking ready on Friday. The entire Duke team seemed to be in lockstep.
The Blue Devils built a double-digit lead in the game’s opening minutes that quickly ballooned to 20. Duke didn’t exactly put it on cruise control from there, but 10 players played over 10 minutes and all 13 players saw the court.
Scheyer admitted that the game script worked out well for getting Flagg back up to speed. However, he knew Flagg was ready for any test Mount St. Mary’s could throw at him.
“We were ready for him to play as many minutes as he needed to,” Scheyer explained. “It has only been eight days, so for him, it’s not like he’s gotten out of shape.”
Flagg played fewer than 23 minutes in two of Duke’s final five regular-season games, both blowout victories over Illinois and Florida State. His 22 minutes on Friday reflected his usual workload in these kinds of games: get in, show out, get out.
Baylor up next for Blue Devils
Looking more holistically at Duke’s performance, the Blue Devils’ 44-point margin of victory was the largest of the first round. Meanwhile, in the first game of Friday’s slate, 9-seed Baylor knocked out 8-seed Mississippi State to book a spot in the second round.
Flagg and the Blue Devils opened as an 11.5-point favorite to make it past the Bears on Sunday and into the Sweet 16. Duke easily cruised past its first-round spread, and they are facing a Baylor team that hasn’t had a top-50 KenPom defense since 2022.
Of course, as Scheyer made clear, nobody can guarantee a win in the NCAA Tournament. But with Flagg feeling ‘100 percent confident’ in his health — and playing like it on Friday — it’s hard not to feel equally assured about Duke breaking through to the second weekend.