Cooper Flagg injury update: Duke star's status for North Carolina game reportedly revealed

Duke’s Cooper Flagg left in the first half of the Blue Devils’ quarterfinal in the ACC Tournament on Thursday with a sprained left ankle. Now, the latest update is out on the superstar freshman.

Flagg will not play on Friday against North Carolina per Adam Zagoria. The report has surfaced just hours before tip-off tonight against the Tar Heels in Charlotte.

Flagg came down with a rebound with under three minutes to go in the first half of their game against Georgia Tech. When he did, his left ankle rolled in a bad-looking way with Flagg limping off the court before receiving help to get back to the locker rooms in the Spectrum Center. He was later seen in the back in a wheelchair while waiting to be tested before he eventually returned to the bench for Duke.

After the game, Jon Scheyer shared that Flagg had sprained that ankle with his x-rays coming back negative. With that, per Scheyer, it’s likely that he won’t appear again in the ACC Tournament ahead of Duke’s games next week in the NCAA Tournament.

This was to be expected to an extent considering the injury, the one-day turnaround, and the quotes by Scheyer with Flagg being the key to the title hopes for Duke. The Blue Devils will now reportedly have to make do without him for tonight against UNC.

DraftKings releases hypothetical odds if Duke star was healthy for UNC game

Cooper Flagg is very likely to be out for the remainder of the ACC Tournament with his sprained left ankle. That absence has already had a large impact on the projection of the Blue Devils’ semifinal today against North Carolina.

Per Julian Edlow at DraftKings, Duke would have hypothetically opened as a 13.5-point favorite over the Tar Heels if Flagg were to be in the lineup. With him not, though, the Blue Devils opened as just a 7.5-point favorite with that spread already played down to 6.5 points, which adds up to a line that’s by seven points total based almost solely on Flagg’s absence.

“Cooper Flagg is worth 7 points to the spread according to the trading team at @DKSportsbook,” Edlow tweeted today. “Duke would be favored by 13.5 over UNC if Flagg were playing, instead it opened 7.5 and currently sits 6.5.”

This also affected the championship odds for the NCAA Tournament. According to odds at BetMGM, their chances of winning the national title this season went down from (+320) to (+375) following the injury for Flagg.

Duke will be without its leader in every statistical category in Flagg for a postseason game against its in-state rival. That naturally would have some effect on the game, with the spread having since been cut in half for tonight’s game.