RALEIGH, N.C. — Cooper Flagg will make his return from an ankle injury when Duke, the No. 1 seed in the East Region, begins its 2025 NCAA Tournament campaign on Friday. The school confirmed that Flagg carries no injury designation and is active, marking his return to the lineup after missing the final two games of the ACC Tournament.
“I’m feeling pretty good,” Flagg said Thursday during Duke’s news conference. “We have an incredible training staff, we’ve been working through the steps of getting back to 100 percent.” The star freshman told reporters that he worked his way back to full health during the week, with full practice participation on Wednesday.
Flagg suffered the ankle injury late in the first half of Duke’s win against Georgia Tech in the quarterfinals of the ACC Tournament on March 13. He was ruled out for the semifinals initially and then the rest of the conference tournament, which the Blue Devils proceeded to win with back-to-back victories against North Carolina and Louisville. He described a rehab and recovery process that included imaging to reveal no structural damage and then a “pain tolerance” issue that he was able to worth through with the help of Duke’s staff.
“For us, this is about [Flagg] being able to move properly. He wasn’t going to play if he was compensating, but he’s not compensating,” Duke coach Jon Scheyer said. “Actually the time off I think has helped him, his explosiveness, he’s getting a little bit of rest. The ACC Tournament is such a grind, the regular season is a grind. So our medical team and staff has done a great job making sure with his force play testing — with how he’s jumping off each leg — that there’s no imbalance of the the way he’s moving.”
Scheyer proceeded to explain that another key was going to be how he took contact, and Flagg “looked really good” on Wednesday after taking contact and getting “knocked off his base” in his first full practice back.
The Blue Devils will play No. 16 seed Mount St. Mary’s, the conference champions from the MAAC and winners in the First Four after beating American in Dayton. It will be the second game of the day from Raleigh — following No. 8 Baylor against No. 9 Mississippi State — with a scheduled 2:50 p.m. ET tip-off.
A consensus All-American and the ACC Player of the Year, Flagg leads Duke in points (18.9 PPG), rebounds (7.5 RPG), assists (4.1 APG), steals (1.5 SPG) and blocks (1.3 BPG). He’s the favorite to win the Wooden Award as the National Player of the Year and on track to the be the first pick in the 2025 NBA Draft. The Blue Devils handled his absence well, with fellow freshman Kon Knueppel stepping up to handle more offensive responsibility averaging 21.0 points per game in the ACC Tournament en route to tournament MVP honors. But if Duke is going to reach its potential as a national title favorite, having Flagg back and healthy is going to be a key to the Blue Devils’ run.
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