CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Maliq Brown and Cooper Flagg stood at the back edge of Duke’s huddle, wearing black warmups on their lean frames and peering inside as coach Jon Scheyer directed their teammates against rival North Carolina.
The good news for the top-ranked Blue Devils?
They held on to win that Atlantic Coast Conference tournament semifinal against the fifth-seeded Tar Heels, 74-71, despite Brown and Flagg being only able to watch from the outside due to injuries, with Duke (30-3) getting valuable performances from down-the-rotation players Caleb Foster and Patrick Ngongba in bigger minutes.
The bad? The ACC regular-season champions will be shorthanded with both out again for Saturday night’s league title game against 13th-ranked, second-seed Louisville (27-6). And things didn’t exactly go to plan without freshman sensation Flagg and defensive whiz Brown, with Duke blowing nearly all of a 24-point lead in the final 17 minutes before holding on to beat the Tar Heels in a game that could be remembered for a critical late mistake by North Carolina that negated a tying free throw as Jae’Lyn Withers was called for a lane violation.
“I’m not sure I’m going to be able to give you the best rundown of that game,” Scheyer said afterward. “It’s still a blur to me.”