Cooper Flagg injury update: Jon Scheyer reveals issue with Duke star's eye

Cooper Flagg has to deal with a lot of punishment from opposing defenses. And we got another example of that on Saturday, when the freshman phenom got hit in the face a number of times. On the second time, Flagg had an issue with his eye that forced him to leave the game with more than 11 minutes remaining in the first half. Following Duke’s 100-65 blowout victory of the Seminoles, Blue Devils head coach Jon Scheyer offered some clarity on what exactly the issue with his star’s eye was.

“Yeah, well obviously, if Cooper stayed down. Something happened. Like, he doesn’t stay down on the ground. And fortunately, we have an amazing setup. Our medical team did a great job. Our eye doctor who handles everything with the team was here. Saw him right away. And fortunately, it wasn’t anything with his eye itself. It was his eyelid. You know, he got bruised, basically,” Scheyer explained.

“So, once we felt, obviously, we weren’t gonna risk anything. But once we saw it and felt very confident it wasn’t something that could get worse. Cooper tested, he had some vision issues in the first half, but then tested it out and he said he was gonna go. So, and he was, so he wasn’t lying,” Scheyer continued.

“He was good. And we’ll see the bruising tomorrow, of course. But he’s so tough. His mom’s yelling at him to rebound and defend if he’s going back in the game. So, I didn’t really have to say a whole lot. But I’m really glad he’s ok,” Scheyer finished.

Did Scheyer think about the severity of the injury affecting Flagg’s career?

“Yeah, right away. Just, I think as a basketball player you don’t think about injuring your eye. That doesn’t cross your mind. So, I think Cooper, I’ve never seen him look scared. I thought he was scared at first, rightfully so, because you don’t know how serious it is. Is it permanent? Is it not? And so, I was really relieved when the medical team shared the news because I was really nervous about him,” Scheyer finished.

It was a historic victory for the Blue Devils in more ways than one. Duke has now won nine ACC games by 25 points or more, a school record. It’s also the most in ACC history. They’ve also won five straight games by 15 points or more, tying a school record. And they’ve won three straight by 35 points or more, tying yet another school record.