Cooper Flagg has been nothing short of dominant for the Duke basketball team over the last five weeks and Jon Scheyer doesn’t want to change anything involving his superstar freshman.
The question was presented to Scheyer on Monday when he met the media if he would think about using Flagg as a center with the injury to Maliq Brown and the Duke head coach quickly shut that down.
“I don’t want to screw anything up with him,” Scheyer said. “I think he needs to stay the course with where he’s at. But obviously, his versatility is a key thing and that’s why he and Maliq [Brown] go so well together.”
Duke will use a handful of players behind starting center Khaman Maluach while Brown is sidelined, including freshman Patrick Ngongba and Purdue transfer Mason Gillis.
Cooper Flagg is fresh of a 42-point game against Notre Dame in which he went 11-of-14 from the floor and 16-for-17 from the free throw line. He set a new Duke and ACC freshman scoring record while becoming the first player in program history to score at least 40 points in a game since JJ Redick.
In the last month, Flagg has emerged as the favorite to win the National Player of the Year.
“There’s no replacing Maliq’s versatility and what he does on that end with deflections and steals,” Scheyer added. “It’s a big loss.”
Duke used Maluach for a career-high 32 minutes against the Irish in which he added 19 points, which was also a career-best, and 10 rebounds.
“The reality, though, I don’t think he’s been quite right,” the Duke head coach continued about Brown. “He had the toe injury that he was still recovering from. I think this is a chance for him to get really right and get back to the level where he was playing.”
The No. 3 Blue Devils (14-2, 6-0 ACC) return to the court on Tuesday night (9:00 p.m. ET, ESPN) against Miami (4-12, 0-5 ACC).