Duke Blue Devils: Cooper Flagg plays with eye injuries

Duke Blue Devils’ male basketball star, Cooper Flagg fought by a eyes injury to conduct team No. 2 in the country with a 35-point victory on Florida State on Saturday evening.

Flagg was pushed into the eyes in the first half in the middle of a hard fault. He sat for about 11 minutes but returned to start the second half and finished 16 points in the 100-65 victory.

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“He was beaten and scratched,” said Flagg’s teammate, Sion James. “Cooper is one of the toughest guys I never played with. I had confidence that if he was fine, he would be back. He was back and better than ever.”

Duke’s head coach Jon Scheyer described the injury as a bruised eyelid.

“As a basketball player, you don’t think about hurting your eyes,” said Scheyer. “It doesn’t cross you.

Cooper Flagg (2) by Duke and Bostyn Holt by Florida State, on the right, fight for the ball during the second half of a NCAA university basketball match in Durham, NC, Saturday March 1, 2025. (AP photo / ben mckeown)

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Scheyer added that Flagg had “vision problems”, which extended his return to the ground. Flagg was not made available to talk to journalists after the match.

The Duke Star is widely considered the favorite as the first choice of the NBA 2025 draft. It has an average of 19.3 points, 7.5 rebounds and 4.1 assists per game this season.

Cooper Flagg (2) of Duke reacts before the Christian of Florida State Nitu (11) after blocked Nitu’s shot in the second half of a university basketball match of NCAA in Durham, NC, Saturday March 1, 2025. (AP photo / ben mckeown)

Blue Devils still have two games on their regular season calendar. They will play Wake Forest on Monday and go to North Carolina on Saturday.