Costly win: Duke basketball outlasts Georgia Tech in injury-marred ACC Tournament opener
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2025 ACC Men’s Tournament
Follow all the action from the 2025 ACC Men’s Basketball Tournament in Charlotte, NC, with updated scores, standings, game recaps and analysis from the team of writers from the News & Observer, Charlotte Observer and The State.
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It’s probably a stretch to say Duke survived its quarterfinal ACC tournament matchup with Georgia Tech on Thursday. The Blue Devils won, yes, after trailing by as many as 14, but at tremendous cost.
They lost Cooper Flagg to a left ankle injury, one that left him punching the padded chairs on the bench in frustration. And they lost Maliq Brown to a re-injured left shoulder, orchestrating their second-half comeback without their best player and one of their best defenders.
It was a Pyrrhic 78-70 victory, and while Duke may have benefited from enduring a little game pressure after an ACC campaign that didn’t offer much of it, the Blue Devils (29-3) certainly didn’t want to see Flagg sitting in a wheelchair, however briefly.
Flagg did return to the bench early in the second half to watch the conclusion; Brown did not. Their availability for Friday night’s semifinal against the North Carolina-Wake Forest winner remains in doubt — though head coach Jon Scheyer called Flagg’s return for Friday “a real longshot” and was equally pessimistic about Brown’s return. It’s a product of the reality that being 100% for the NCAA Tournament trumps white-knuckling through anything that might be won in Charlotte.
Still, Scheyer told reporters postgame that he was happy with what he learned about his team Thursday.
“Obviously that was a different kind of game for us,” Scheyer said. “And, you know, I couldn’t be more proud of the heart, the character, the competitiveness of our team.”
That grit he referenced showed up largely in the second half, mostly after a beginning that saw Duke miss its first 13 3-point attempts and be outfought for several loose balls. Duke started on a 12-0 run to begin the second half and never trailed once it took the lead.
Though it was Kon Knueppel who had a game-high 28 points and eight assists and it was Khaman Maluach who added 14 points and nine rebounds — so many of those points dunks that nearly brought the backboard down — it was Charlotte’s own Isaiah Evans who broke the proverbial lid on the rim, so to speak.
“It’s great, air smells great,” Evans, a North Mecklenburg High School state champion and the No. 1 recruite out of North Carolina last year, told reporters after the game with a smile. “I’m just glad to be back home, glad to put on a show for the home crowd. But most importantly, I’m glad just to advance to the next round.”
Evans was clearly having fun out there. Knueppel after the contest said that’s how he plays anywhere — whether it’s in Arizona or in Durham or wherever else — but there was clearly some hometown edge to him Thursday.
After his biggest 3-point contribution to his 14-point total — a huge 3 from the left corner with 8 minutes left to stretch the game’s margin to 11 (Duke’s largest lead on Thursday) — Evans ran down the court with a huge smile on his face and popped the lapels of his jersey and screamed to the crowd: “This is my (expletive) city!”
Duncan Powell led Georgia Tech (17-16) with 24 points.
After the contest, the talk of the locker room was Flagg’s injury and how that might impact Duke as it seeks its second ACC title in three years. Graduate guard Sion James said that Flagg’s injury will obviously change the team’s plan because “he’s the best player in America,” but that nothing about preparation will change. Knueppel said something similar.
Tyrese Proctor, the guard who conducted the Duke offense with aplomb even if the final stat line shows 6 points on 2 of 11 shooting, said the injury, in a way, upped the game’s urgency and forced his team to come together quicker.
Maluach summed it up simply.
“We stayed together,” the big man said. “We went in the locker room and we spoke to each other, and we’re like, we’ve got to step up and pick our teammates up. And that’s what we did.”
Alex Zietlow contributed to this report.
This story was originally published March 13, 2025 at 2:12 PM with the headline "Costly win: Duke basketball outlasts Georgia Tech in injury-marred ACC Tournament opener."
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