Cooper Flagg probably could’ve had more than the 13 points and 11 rebounds he finished with in No. 7 Duke’s 100-58 rout of Army on Friday night. All of Flagg’s points and all but one rebound came in the first half of the decisive victory for the Blue Devils.
But Flagg was unable to stuff the stat sheet in the second half because he spent the majority of it on the bench. The 17-year-old freshman – a preseason AP All-American projected by many to be the top pick in the 2025 NBA Draft – played just a bit more than five minutes in the second half as he dealt with cramping for the second straight game of his collegiate career.
Flagg exited the game at the 15:39 mark in the second half and began guzzling Gatorade – whom he has a NIL sponsorship deal with – and using a massage tool on the areas above his knees. Flagg reentered the game four minutes later but lasted only a minute before he was back on the bench, grimacing, rubbing his hamstrings, drinking various liquids and talking to a trainer. Flagg didn’t reenter the game, playing less than 25 minutes.
“We got a plan in place, we’re going to follow it,” Flagg said. “We’re going to figure it out, for sure.”
Cooper Flagg was experiencing cramps during the second half vs. Army. pic.twitter.com/cPDp1VMykP
— ESPN (@espn) November 9, 2024
Luckily for Duke, they didn’t need Flagg at full capacity to beat Army as five other Blue Devils scored in double figures in the lopsided win.
But the Blue Devils’ schedule is about to get a whole lot tougher. Of Duke’s next six games, four are against AP-ranked opponents – No. 23 Kentucky, No. 10 Arizona, No. 1 Kansas and No. 11 Auburn. And of those four, three are away from the cozy confines of Cameron Indoor Stadium and Duke’s Crazies.
Simply put, Duke is going to need Flagg healthy to be competitive in those marquee matchups.
And third-year Duke coach Jon Scheyer is going to do everything in his power to make that happen.
“We got to help him. I’m not happy about it, for him. We’ve got to help him, and we will. And right after this, I can promise you I’m going to be meeting (with staff), I don’t care if it’s all night,” Scheyer said. “We can’t have that happening – bottom line. I thought he had it going too. You know, that first half, he was just really controlling the whole game with his rebounding, his passing, his playmaking, his scoring, was assertive shooting the ball. So, that can’t happen. I’m not happy with it, we’re going to fix that.”
Flagg’s first half of play saw him throw down an alley-oop and swish a pair of 3-pointers. He finished the game with three assists, three blocks and two steals in addition to his first collegiate double-double.
Rese up top to Coop (ACCN) pic.twitter.com/aHHujE3srK
— Duke Men’s Basketball (@DukeMBB) November 8, 2024
In the second half, the expression on his face read “yuck” as he was drinking whatever trainers handed him.
“I’m not even sure what it was,” Flagg said of the shot of seemingly unknown liquid that made his face sour. “There was a couple of things… We had a little pickle juice too, which is something I’ve tried in the past.”
Flagg dealt with cramps in his Duke debut earlier this week too, leaving the Blue Devils’ season-opener against Maine on Monday with under four minutes to play due to cramping in his left calf.
In the postgame press conference, Scheyer put the blame squarely on the shoulders of himself and Duke’s coaching and support staff. And he seemed like a coach willing to try just about anything to make sure he’s getting the most out of his prized star recruit.
“It’s on all of us. It’s me, it’s our coaches, it’s our medical team and sports performance – it’s all of us,” Scheyer said. “He’s doing everything that he needs to in preparation. It’s not like there’s something that he’s not doing. He prepares his butt off. He drinks, he’s eating the right way, he does everything he needs to. We got to help him take care of this now.”
Somewhat strangely, this isn’t the first time in recent memory that a star Duke freshman has dealt with cramping. Paolo Banchero received an IV during a game, more than once, because of it.
