By Brian Murphy, WRAL

Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets	70
1Duke Blue Devils	78
Final

Charlotte, N.C. — Winning the ACC Tournament is nice, but the No. 1-ranked Duke Blue Devils have larger ambitions.

And that’s why star Cooper Flagg is unlikely to see the court in Friday’s ACC Tournament semifinal against rival North Carolina.

Flagg, the ACC Player of the Year and expected No. 1 pick in the NBA Draft, injured his left ankle with 2 minutes, 46 seconds remaining in the first half. He did not return to the game, but did come back to the Blue Devils’ bench in the second half.

Flagg didn’t speak to members of the media after the game. X-rays were negative, Duke coach Jon Scheyer said.

“To be honest with you, I would have to be convinced by everybody in the locker room when I go back there that he should play,” Scheyer said. “It’s not worth it. It just isn’t.

“Again, he was swollen already. It’s not about being ready to go tomorrow. That’s not the most important thing for us. We’ve got to see if we can get him right for this run that we can make in the [NCAA] tournament.

But I would have to be really convinced that we should even consider seeing if he can go tomorrow. He may not be able to go anyway. He probably won’t be able to go anyway. But I think it’s a real long shot. A real long shot.”

Duke plays at 7 p.m. Friday in the ACC Tournament semifinals. Other members of the Blue Devils’ talented freshman class carried them past Georgia Tech with Kon Knueppel, Khaman Maluach and Isaiah Evans leading the way.

“It just shows that we’re a real team,” said Evans, who had 14 points and made four 3-pointers. “It’s not really about one person or two people. It’s about Duke. Duke is going to handle business all the time. That’s what we came here to do, we came here to play ball. No matter the circumstances, whatever happens throughout the game, we’re going to keep playing.”

The Blue Devils also lost forward Maliq Brown, who dislocated his shoulder in the first half and was in such pain that he was taken to the hospital. Brown had just returned to the lineup after missing several games afer dislocating the shoulder earlier this season.

“It hurt just to see one of my brothers go down,” Evans said. “We all just want to see each other play ball. This is what we love to do, so when someone goes down, it’s hard. Same thing with Maliq. We just told each other, we got you, we’re going to pick you up, and we got you.”

Duke is all but assured of a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. The Blue Devils could still secure the No. 1 overall seed. They are likely to start the tournament in Raleigh.

The Blue Devils trailed by as many as 14 in the first half, but took the lead early in the second half and never trailed again.

“Sometimes you see Maliq go out, Cooper go out, and you feel like you have to really make up for it with amazing plays and offense and scoring, when in reality, you need to do your job,” Scheyer said.

“For us, I thought we just did simple a lot better in the second half, guarding the ball, being in the right positioning, simple plays on offense.”

Source: wralsportsfan.com