Duke basketball forward Maliq Brown has a sprained knee and is going to be out an “extended period of time,” Blue Devils coach Jon Scheyer said Monday.
“He’ll miss an extended period of time here. He’ll miss weeks,” Scheyer said Monday during the weekly ACC coaches Zoom teleconference. “Could be longer, but obviously he’s gonna be out for the next several games, minimum.”
Duke (14-2, 6-0 ACC) hosts Miami (4-12, 0-5) on Tuesday (9 p.m., ESPN) before traveling to Boston College (9-7, 1-4) on Saturday (8 p.m., ESPN).
Brown, a Syracuse transfer and one of Duke’s most versatile players, sustained a knee injury in the first half of the fourth-ranked Blue Devils’ 86-78 win against Notre Dame on Saturday in Durham. Brown played one minute in the first half before teammate Mason Gillis collided with Brown’s knee at the 11:25 mark. Brown limped off Coach K Court and didn’t return to the game.
“There’s no replacing Maliq’s versatility and what he does on (the defensive) end with deflections and steals,” Scheyer said.
“. … It’s a big loss. The reality though, I don’t think he’s been quite right. He had a toe injury he was still recovering from. I think this is a chance for him to get really right, and get back to the level that he was playing at. We gotta get him better.”
Duke 7-foot-2 center Khaman Maluach played a season-high 32 minutes against Notre Dame, finishing with a career-high 19 points to go with 10 rebounds for his second double-double performance of the season. Maluach is a starter, but Brown was typically the first player off the bench to give Maluach a break. Maluach has improved his mobility as a defender on the perimeter, but Brown was seemingly the perfect fit for allowing Duke’s defense to switch everything.
Patrick Ngongba, a 6-foot-11 freshman, also played first-half minutes and finished with two points and a rebound. Outside of those traditional bigs, Purdue transfer Mason Gillis seems like the other candidate capable of sliding in to provide some relief on the interior.
“I have a ton of confidence in Pat Ngongba,” Scheyer said.
“He wasn’t healthy. He’s been coming on really strong. Obviously, Khaman’s emergence, with what he’s done, playing more minutes. Mason needs to be ready. We can go small at times. We have guys, collectively, we need to step up. I also don’t want to brush aside the importance of Maliq to our team and what he means also.”
Cooper Flagg could also see some time at the center position, but Scheyer said Monday he doesn’t want to negatively affect Flagg’s current stretch of production. Flagg set an ACC freshman record with 42 points against Notre Dame and is the favorite to win National Player of the Year.
“I don’t want to screw anything up with him,” Scheyer said.
“I think he needs to stay the course with where he’s at, but his versatility is a key thing. That’s why he and Maliq go so well together. … We have other guys that can bang and guard 5s. I would rather Cooper not do that, although he can easily switch 1-5. That versatility is an important thing for our team, but he needs to keep focusing on what he’s doing and where his game is going right now.”
Throughout the season, Brown has been among Duke’s best defenders, with 22 steals through 14 games. He’s had multiple steals in five games and is among the nation’s leaders in deflections. He missed Duke’s win against Incarnate Word on Dec. 10 with a toe injury, but returned for six games until Saturday’s injury. Brown is averaging 2.5 points, 4 rebounds, 1.4 assists and 1.2 steals per game.
