The Duke Blue Devils are 2-0 to open the season, cruising to victories over the Maine Black Bears and Army Black Knights before Tuesday’s showdown with the Kentucky Wildcats in the 2024 Champions Classic.
While things are seemingly going well for third-year head coach Jon Scheyer and his squad, as Duke has an average margin of victory of 38 points, one issue arose in Friday’s win over Army, and it has Scheyer very upset.
Duke freshman phenom Cooper Flagg, the 2024 High School Basketball Player of the Year and projected top pick in 2025’s NBA Draft, missed most of the second half of the game with cramping issues. After the game, Scheyer said he wasn’t pleased with the training staff over the issue, and he’d be conversing with them no matter how long it took to get a resolution.
“We’ve got to help him. We’ve got to help him. I’m not happy about it, for him. We’ve got to help him. And we will. Right after [Friday’s game], I can promise you I’m going to be meeting [with the team’s training staff]. I don’t care if it’s all night. We can’t have that happen. Bottom line,” Scheyer said via ESPN.
Despite the injury limiting his playing time, Flagg still finished with a double-double, scoring 13 points and hauling in 11 rebounds in 25 minutes of action.
“I thought he had it going, too. That first half, he was really controlling the whole game with his rebounding, his passing, his playmaking, his scoring. He was assertive shooting the ball,” Scheyer said.
[ESPN]
