Duke's Cooper Flagg Got Poked in the Eye and Was Bleeding Early in Game vs. Baylor

Cooper Flagg wasn’t going to let an eye poke slow him down.
Cooper Flagg reacts after getting hit in the face during game against Baylor.
Cooper Flagg reacts after getting hit in the face during game against Baylor. / @CBSSports / X

Duke superstar Cooper Flagg suffered a brief scare early in Sunday’s game against No. 9 Baylor when he took a swipe across the face from an opposing player while the ball was loose and got poked in the eye.

While battling for a rebound early in the first half against Baylor forward Norchad Omier, Flagg got caught with a hand in the face, with his right eye immediately showing a bit of swelling.

When the game went to break, Flagg sought treatment on the Duke bench. Per CBS courtside reporter Tracy Wolfson, Flagg was bleeding a bit just above the eye, but there was “no question that he was going back in.”

It’s the second injury scare Flagg has had to deal with in the past two weeks, although it looks like he’ll escape this one relatively unscathed.

Flagg missed significant time during Duke’s run through the ACC tournament after suffering an ankle injury. He returned to the court on Friday in Duke’s first-round matchup against No. 16 Mount St. Mary’s—a dominant 93–49 victory.


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Tyler Lauletta
TYLER LAULETTA

Tyler Lauletta is a staff writer for the Breaking and Trending News Team/team at Sports Illustrated. Before joining SI, he covered sports for nearly a decade at Business Insider, and helped design and launch the OffBall newsletter. He is a graduate of Temple University in Philadelphia, and remains an Eagles and Phillies sicko. When not watching or blogging about sports, Tyler can be found scratching his dog behind the ears.