Published Feb 17, 2025
Duke cruises, with one speed bump, against Virginia
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Conor O'Neill  •  DevilsIllustrated
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Blue Devils lose Maliq Brown to dislocated shoulder late in first half of another lopsided ACC win

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Notching another blowout ACC win came at a cost for Duke’s men’s basketball team.

How costly will have to be figured out in the next few days.

Duke steamrolled Virginia 80-62 on Monday night at John Paul Jones Arena but lost Maliq Brown to a dislocated shoulder late in the first half.

“I’ll have to meet with our medical team to get an update,” coach Jon Scheyer said of his defensive savant, via the team’s radio broadcast. “I know his status, he couldn’t go back in.”

Scheyer later said in his news conference that Brown had a dislocated shoulder, and that the plan was for him to have imaging done later Monday night to gauge the severity and a possible timeline moving forward.

Brown exited the game with 1:21 left in the first half. Shortly before that, he reached for a deflection with his left arm and immediately recoiled, holding his arm and drawing a stoppage of play.

The junior immediately went back to the locker room with Duke’s training staff. Brown returned to the bench in the second half in a T-shirt and with a sling on his left arm.

Other than Brown’s injury, things were copasetic for the Blue Devils (23-3, 15-1 ACC). Duke led by 14 at halftime, scored the first eight points of the second half, and led by as much as 27 before putting things on cruise control.

In three games since losing at Clemson, Duke has beaten California by 21, Stanford 36, and now Virginia by 18. Of Duke’s 15 ACC wins, 13 have come by double digits.

“Our guys had a very professional-like approach to the game tonight,” Scheyer said. “We were just very consistent. Our approach, our offense, our sharing, just really wore on them.”

Three freshmen — Cooper Flagg, Kon Knueppel and Isaiah Evans — scored 17 points apiece to lead Duke in scoring. Flagg added a season-high 14 rebounds; Knueppel broke loose from a mini-slump that saw him score 15 combined points in the last two games; and Evans scored his second-most points of the season, behind only the 18 he had against Auburn.

Of some concern in the past few games for Duke was the rate of offensive rebounds allowed — in four of Duke’s previous five games, opponents rebounded at least 30% of their misses against the Blue Devils.

Virginia (13-13, 6-9) missed 32 shots and had four offensive rebounds.

“They know that’s the one thing I’ve been on them the most about,” Scheyer said of locking down on the rebounding numbers. “Even the one at the end of the first half, I usually flip out over those. … It was the only one in the first half.”

Duke got a boost from Evans, which has become a theme in ACC road games. The freshman drained three 3s in the first half — his only three shots of the first 20 minutes — and finished with 17 points.

In eight ACC road games, Evans is 14-for-28 shooting 3s. At Cameron Indoor Stadium, also coming in eight ACC games, Evans is 9-for-25.

“Isaiah, I’m just really proud of his attitude. His resiliency. From the beginning, he chose Duke because he wanted it, he chose the hard way,” Scheyer said. “We actually had a talk (Sunday) because me and him have both known there’s more there. I have to help him more, he has to stay ready for the moment.

“When he hits those shots, they’re loud. I can’t say enough about him, with his approach and his resiliency.”

TIP-INS: Flagg’s double-double was his seventh of the season but first since Jan. 7 against Pittsburgh. … Duke’s e-FG clip was 60.2%, which marks the 14th game (of 26) this season that it’s been above 60%. … Dai Dai Ames and Andrew Rohde led Virginia with 15 points each, and sharpshooter Isaac McKneely scored 14. But McKneely was limited to nine shot attempts, going 4-for-7 on 3s, and Virginia shot 10-for-26 (38.5%) in both halves.