CHARLOTTE — Duke misplaced Cooper Flagg to a left ankle damage within the first half, then rallied behind freshman Kon Knueppel to defeat Georgia Tech, 78-70, within the ACC Match quarterfinals Thursday.
Knueppel scored a career-high 28 factors with eight assists and 5 rebounds in 39 minutes to energy Duke to a twenty ninth win, rallying the Blue Devils from a 14-point deficit within the first half with out his freshman co-star.
“I could not be extra proud,” Duke coach Jon Scheyer mentioned. “You are going through a workforce preventing for his or her life. We endure two accidents within the first half and to answer all that was actually spectacular. So many guys stepped up and Kon was so stable all through.”
Knueppel turned the primary Duke participant to place up not less than 25-5-5 in an ACC match recreation.
“I wasn’t on the bench a lot within the second half,” Knueppel mentioned of what Flagg shared about his standing when he got here again to the bench. “But it surely was good to see him shifting round on the market.”
Scheyer mentioned after the sport that X-rays of Flagg’s left ankle taken on the stadium have been destructive, however the Blue Devils are monitoring the damage and anticipate swelling to turn out to be a problem.
Flagg scored two factors and left the sport earlier than halftime after injuring his left ankle whereas gathering a defensive rebound.
“I knew I needed to step up. Coach advised me within the second half I wanted to step up, I did my greatest to,” Knueppel mentioned. “We have now loads of like-minded gamers and loads of gifted gamers. When guys are out, we now have the flexibility to step up.”
Freshmen crammed the scoring void with Flagg out. Isaiah Evans and Khaman Maluach each scored 14 factors for Duke (29-3), which meet both fifth-seeded North Carolina or fourth-seeded Wake Forest in Friday evening’s first semifinal recreation.
Flagg, the potential No. 1 choose within the NBA draft who earlier within the week was named the ACC Participant of the 12 months and ACC Rookie of the 12 months, was 1-for-7 from the sphere earlier than he exited not lengthy after Blue Devils ahead Maliq Brown reinjured his left shoulder. Brown didn’t return and Scheyer mentioned he left the stadium on a stretcher with a dislocated shoulder. It is the second time this season he had the identical damage.
“Subsequent man up. We’ll should play a bit of bit in another way than we do with Cooper and Maliq,” Knueppel mentioned of how the Blue Devils will method the semifinals with key gamers unsure. “We have got to be able to go.”
Duncan Powell’s 24 factors and Baye Ndongo’s 15 factors led eighth-seeded Georgia Tech (17-16), which shot 42.8 % (26 of 61) from the sphere. Lance Terry added 12 factors.
Duke trailed by 5 at halftime, its largest deficit on the break this season, however scored the primary 12 factors of the second half. By the point Jaeden Mustaf scored on a drive, greater than 5 minutes had elapsed within the half.
Duke produced a 19-2 run spanning the 2 halves.
However Georgia Tech regrouped. The Yellow Jackets closed the hole to 43-40 earlier than one other Duke burst that included 3-pointers from Knueppel and Evans that created a 54-43 lead on the under-8 timeout.
The Yellow Jackets’ second-offensive woes resembled Duke’s troubles within the first half. Georgia Tech managed solely 13 factors throughout the primary 13 minutes of the second half.
The Blue Devils completed 7-for-30 on 3-pointers, with Evans making 4.
Duke trailed 26-12 and began the sport 0-for-13 on 3-point makes an attempt. Evans hit a pair of 3s late within the half to assist shut the hole to 31-26 by the break.
Georgia Tech’s Ndongo had 11 first-half factors, whereas no Duke participant had greater than six.
Duke beat Georgia Tech for the second time this season, although the opposite got here previous to Christmas in Atlanta (82-56) and with out the drama that unfolded Thursday.
–Bob Sutton, Discipline Stage Media