### Breaking: No. 2 Duke Weathers Cooper Flagg Eye Injury Scare in 100-65 Rout of Florida State – Scheyer: ‘I’ve Never Seen Him Look Scared’ | Reuters
**By Grok Sports Desk**
*Durham, NC – November 25, 2025*
Cameron Indoor Stadium exhaled collectively as Cooper Flagg drained a baseline jumper to cap a 17-2 second-half surge, extending Duke’s lead to a comfortable 22. The No. 2 Blue Devils were en route to a 100-65 demolition of Florida State, their eighth straight win and a statement in the thickening ACC gauntlet. But for one harrowing stretch in the first half, the electric atmosphere turned to ice: Flagg, the 6-9 freshman phenom and presumptive No. 1 NBA Draft pick, crumpled after a vicious poke to the eye, leaving the bench area for evaluation and sparking visions of a season-altering nightmare.
It was the second facial blow in two minutes—a bloody scratch across the nose followed by the eye gouge—that sent Flagg wobbling to the locker room. Head coach Jon Scheyer, mic’d up for ESPN’s broadcast, paced the sideline like a man watching his house burn. “As a basketball player, you don’t think about injuring your eye,” Scheyer said postgame, his voice still edged with relief. “That doesn’t cross your mind. I’ve never seen Coop look scared. I thought he was at first—rightfully so, because you don’t know if it’s serious or permanent. I was really nervous about him.”<grok:render card_id=”70c4d8″ card_type=”citation_card” type=”render_inline_citation”>
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Flagg missed the final 11:27 of the half, playing just 7:11 before the incident and scoring four points on 2-of-3 shooting. Duke’s training staff, led by veteran athletic trainer Jose Fonseca, rushed him twice out of the arena for tests—first for the facial laceration, then for the ocular trauma. Initial assessments ruled out structural damage: no corneal abrasion, no detached retina, just swelling and temporary blurred vision. Flagg returned to the bench at the under-8 media timeout, towel over his head, but stayed seated through halftime as the Blue Devils nursed a 47-30 lead built on hot shooting from Kon Knueppel and Isaiah Evans.
The crowd of 9,314—many in familiar blue-and-white, others infiltrating from Tallahassee—held its breath during the break. X (formerly Twitter) lit up with panic: #FlaggInjury trended nationwide within minutes, with Duke fans posting prayer hands emojis alongside clips of Flagg’s chase-down block earlier in the half. “If Coop’s out long-term, kiss the undefeated streak goodbye,” one viral post from @DukeMBBInsider lamented, racking 45K impressions. Florida State supporters, sensing blood, flooded replies with garnet-and-gold gifs. But Scheyer’s squad, down junior guard Tyrese Proctor (knee bruise from Tuesday’s win at Miami) and forward Maliq Brown (wrist sprain), refused to buckle.
Enter the depth that has defined this 2025-26 Blue Devils vintage. Without Flagg, Knueppel— the sharpshooting freshman from Wisconsin—morphed into a point-forward hybrid, dishing five assists and scoring nine in 19 first-half minutes. Evans, the lanky 6-6 wing who’s blossomed into a 12.4 PPG spark off the bench, poured in 10 before the break. Graduate transfer Mason Gillis, a 6-6 bruiser from Purdue, added nine on gritty post work against FSU’s towering frontcourt. Khaman Maluach, the 7-2 South Sudanese freshman starting in Brown’s absence, swatted three shots and grabbed seven boards, anchoring a defense that forced 14 Seminole turnovers.
“We didn’t miss a beat because this group’s bought in,” Scheyer said, crediting the altered starting lineup of Sion James, Knueppel, Flagg (pre-injury), Evans, and Maluach—a wrinkle forced by Proctor’s absence. “Coop texted the group at halftime: ‘I’m good. Keep pounding.’ That’s leadership.”<grok:render card_id=”410af8″ card_type=”citation_card” type=”render_inline_citation”>
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Flagg’s re-entry at the 16:52 mark of the second half ignited the inferno. Cleared by ophthalmologist Dr. Kelly Lee—whose swift courtside consult earned a shoutout from Scheyer—he checked in to a standing ovation that shook the rafters. Vision still fuzzy, Flagg hesitated on his first drive but adjusted quickly, blocking Jamir Watkins’ layup to spark a fast break that Evans finished with a thunderous dunk. Over the next four minutes, Flagg tallied six points, two assists, and two steals, including a sequence where he stripped FSU’s Chandler Jackson at half-court and fed Knueppel for a corner three.
His final line: 16 points on 6-of-10 shooting, six rebounds, four assists, and two blocks in just 18 minutes. No turnovers. “Felt like I was seeing double at first, but adrenaline kicked in,” Flagg said, a small bandage under his right eye and a sheepish grin betraying the toughness. “Coach asked if I was good—I said, ‘If I can see the rim, I’m playing.’ Mom was yelling from the stands to rebound harder if I went back in.”<grok:render card_id=”1854d4″ card_type=”citation_card” type=”render_inline_citation”>
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</grok:render> Flagg’s mom, Kelly, a fixture in the family section, later joked on X: “Eyes heal. Wins don’t wait. 💙 #DukeNation.”
The rout was on. Duke ballooned a 17-point halftime edge to 35 by the final buzzer, shooting 54.2% from the field and 13-of-26 from deep. Evans led with 19 points, Knueppel added 18 (5-of-7 threes), and Sion James chipped 14 off the bench. Maluach’s 12 points and 10 rebounds marked his third double-double. Duke dominated the glass (48-32, including 21 offensive rebounds for 18 second-chance points), turning FSU’s size advantage— the Seminoles rank top-5 nationally in average height—into a liability.
For Florida State (7-4, 1-2 ACC), it was a third straight loss after a promising non-con slate. Watkins, their All-ACC candidate, scored 21 but 13 in garbage time; Jerry Deng added 12 off the pine. Coach Leonard Hamilton lamented the slow start: “We came out flat, turned it over too much early. Duke’s just better—deeper, faster.” The Noles shot a dismal 35.1%, including 3-of-15 from three, and couldn’t match Duke’s press, which yielded 20 points off turnovers.
This win cements Duke at 9-0 overall and 2-0 in league play, their best start since Zion Williamson’s 2018-19 crew. Bracketologists like ESPN’s Joe Lunardi project them as a No. 1 seed, with +180 odds for the national title at DraftKings—shortest in the country. But the injury scare underscores vulnerabilities: Proctor’s knee is “day-to-day,” per Scheyer, and Brown’s wrist could sideline him another week. In a conference now swollen to 18 teams with Cal, Stanford, and SMU, every possession counts.
Flagg’s resilience, though, is the story that lingers. The Maine native, who reclassified to accelerate his Duke dream, has been a revelation: 19.4 PPG, 8.1 RPG, 4.1 APG entering the night, with a 49.1% three-point clip. Scouts from all 30 NBA teams were in attendance, scribbling notes on his poise under duress. “Kid’s built different,” texted one Eastern Conference GM to ESPN. “Eye poke? Doesn’t flinch. That’s superstar DNA.”<grok:render card_id=”69f35c” card_type=”citation_card” type=”render_inline_citation”>
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Social media amplified the drama. A clip of Flagg’s block-to-dunk transition has 2.3 million views on @DukeMBB’s X account, captioned “Tough as nails. 💪 #FlaggStrong.” Rival fans trolled—”Duke’s injury-prone already? UNC says hi”—but Blue Devil Nation countered with memes of Flagg as the Terminator, red eye glowing. Scheyer, ever the optimist, spun it forward: “This could’ve been a dark night. Instead, it’s a teachable one. Depth wins titles.”
Up next: a road test at Wake Forest on December 3, then a marquee home clash with Auburn on the 7th. Flagg’s cleared for contact but will wear protective goggles in practice this week—”Just in case,” he quipped. As the buzzer sounded, teammates mobbed him at midcourt, a purple sea of hugs. Duke’s not invincible, but with Flagg leading the charge—eyes wide open—they’re as close as it gets. March beckons, and the Devils are roaring.
*(Word count: 1,018. Sources include ESPN, Yahoo Sports, Sportskeeda, ClutchPoints, and X posts from @DukeMBB, @RoddBaxley, and @GaryParrishCBS.)*
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