As the entire college basketball community worried about the status of Duke phenom Cooper Flagg on Thursday afternoon, a final 20 minutes still had to be played in Charlotte.
The top-ranked Blue Devils trailed Georgia Tech by five at the half in the ACC Tournament quarterfinals and would have to overcome the crushing development of not knowing if their best player would suit up again this season after a nasty left ankle sprain had him being transported in a wheelchair in the bowels of the arena.
Enter fellow star freshman Kon Knueppel to save the day.
Knueppel scored a career-high 28 points, including 22 in the second half, to power Duke to the come-from-behind 78-70 win against eighth-seeded Georgia Tech.
He added eight rebounds and five blocks while playing 38 minutes.
“For Kon, he plays at a great pace,” Duke coach Jon Scheyer said. “He has great size, which allows him to score over the top, or pass, and then you surround him with shooting still.”
One of the advantages of being a program like Duke is having players of Knueppel’s caliber to step up in the absence of the projected No. 1 pick in the 2025 NBA Draft.
Knueppel is the No. 19 recruit in the 2024 class and a projected lottery pick, with a recent NBA.com mock draft having the Trail Blazers select him with the No. 10 pick.
That ceiling would likely make him the top freshman on most teams in the country, but Flagg has long been considered the slam dunk choice at No. 1 this upcoming year.
Knueppel showed why he’s going to be an early pick Thursday when he pioneered the Blue Devils’ second-half rally after trailing by as many as 14 in the first half.
Duke took the court trailing, 31-26, at the half while some wondered if Flagg would be available for the NCAA Tournament.
Knueppel opened the second-half scoring with a 3 to galvanize a 12-0 run that gave the Blue Devils a lead they would never relinquish.
He later all but sealed the game with a three-point play with 4:57 remaining that gave Duke an 11-point advantage.
Scheyer explained the shooting that surrounds Knueppel aids him, and praised the “two-man game” between the projected lottery pick and fellow freshman Khaman Maluach.
“Him and Khaman have developed a great two-man game, and I think you saw that tonight,” Scheyer said.
“It puts teams in a position, what do you do. I’ve never seen them switch. They start switching late. Usually they drop, and Kon does a great job of probing and getting in the paint.”
Flagg is still a “long shot” to play Friday against North Carolina in the semifinals, but it’s a good sign for the Blue Devils that he didn’t suffer a break.
The onus may fall on Knueppel to lead the Blue Devils again.
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