No. 6 Duke dominated Army West Point on Saturday with a herculean double-double effort from No. 1 recruit Cooper Flagg, who turned in 13 points and 11 rebounds in 25 productive minutes of action en route to a 100-58 win. Flagg did most of his damage in the first half to build a big lead but was curiously absent most of the second half, though, which after the game was attributed to Flagg cramping.
“Yeah, we’ve got to help him,” Blue Devils coach Jon Scheyer said. “We’ve got to help him. I’m not happy about it, for him. We’ve got to help him — and we will. Right after this, I can promise you I’m going to be meeting [with Duke’s staff]. I don’t care if it’s all night. We can’t have that happen, bottom line.”
Flagg played 19 of the game’s first 20 minutes and had 13 points and 10 rebounds going into halftime with Duke leading 43-20. He played just six minutes in the second half because of the cramping and did not score a point in that time.
“It’s all of us,” Scheyer said, discussing how Duke plans to approach Flagg’s cramping issues. It’s me, our coaches, our medical team, sport performance. It’s all of us. We’ve got to help him. He’s doing everything he needs to in preparation. He prepares his butt off: he drinks, eats the right way, does everything he needs to. We’ve got to help him take care of this. Now.”
It’s the second time in the last few years Duke’s staff has struggled to keep one of its prized recruits properly hydrated after Paolo Banchero — the No. 1 pick in the 2022 NBA Draft after one season at Duke — similarly struggled early in the 2021-22 season.
Flagg was the highest-rated signee for Duke in school history and is the early favorite to go No. 1 overall in the 2025 NBA Draft. He’s averaging 15.5 points, 9.0 rebounds and 4.0 assists through two contests this season.
Duke has a short turnaround to properly address his cramping with the Blue Devils slated for a huge matchup in the Champions Classic on Tuesday vs. No. 19 Kentucky. The game is slated to tip at 9 p.m. ET.
