Tag: Khaman Maluach

Why Duke’s Khaman Maluach bizarrely barfed mid-game vs. NC State

Poor guy.

On Monday, Duke center Khaman Maluach threw up mid-game, and while it was gross, there’s a reason for it.

We won’t be sharing the video of Maluach barfing on the court (you can watch the video at your own risk), but here’s what happened.

With just over four minutes left in regulation, the Blue Devils’ center was engaged in a play when he paused and started backing up toward the baseline, realizing he was about to lose his lunch.

He tried to keep it together, but it was too late—SPLAT onto the floor.

Eventually, Malauch had to sit down and let trainers tend to him before being helped to the locker room. Postgame, head coach Jon Scheyer explained that the big was cramping. “He wasn’t sick … He was cramping,” Scheyer said.

“Chugged a lot of Gatorade quickly, and that’s what happened when he threw up … I just think it speaks to the character—that he was doing whatever he could to get back in the game.”

[lawrence-auto-related count=3 tag=692536749]

Jon Scheyer offers an explanation for Khaman Maluach getting sick on the court

Duke basketball coach Jon Scheyer said Khaman Maluach ‘chugged a lot of Gatorade’ before getting sick on the court on Monday night.

Duke basketball fans were concerned for freshman center [autotag]Khaman Maluach[/autotag] on Monday night after the 7-footer threw up on the court in the second half against NC State, leaving the game after getting attention from the trainers.

According to head coach [autotag]Jon Scheyer[/autotag] after the game, the answer was thankfully straightforward.

“He was cramping,” Scheyer said. “Chugged a lot of Gatorade quickly and that’s what happened.”

Scheyer, always in a coaching mindset, even said he viewed the incident as a testament to Maluach’s character.

“He was doing whatever he could to get back in the game,” Scheyer said.

The first-year star reportedly felt better after the game, but Scheyer still said he felt worried about Maluach and wanted to give him some rest before Saturday’s home game against the North Carolina Tar Heels. After a full week off before Saturday’s road trip to Wake Forest, the Blue Devils played twice in three days for the second time this season and first in conference play.

Maluach finished with four points, eight rebounds, and two blocks in the 74-64 victory over the Wolfpack.

Duke basketball thwarts second-half comeback by Wake Forest

Duke hit the road on Saturday to face Wake Forest. In the end, they walked away with their 13th win in a row, thwarting a comeback attempt.

Despite a big halftime lead, the Duke Blue Devils nearly gave it all away to Wake Forest on the road on Saturday afternoon.

It didn’t matter in the end, though, as No. 2 Duke pulled away in the final minutes for a 63-56 victory to stay undefeated in the ACC.

On the heels of their 12th win in a row, Duke traveled to Winston-Salem to face Wake Forest to make it a baker’s dozen. The Demon Deacons had won six in a row themselves heading into the game with no home losses this year.

Duke started the game with the first bucket, courtesy of [autotag]Cooper Flagg[/autotag], and the Blue Devils took off from there. By halftime, Duke had built a 13-point lead.

Wake Forest didn’t back down, coming out of half and rallying to a six-point deficit with just under 10 minutes left in the game. The Blue Devils responded with seven straight scoring possessions to keep it out of reach.

Flagg led the way for Duke, scoring 24 points on 50% (8/16) shooting from the field. He was one-for-six from 3-point range, part of a 28.1% (9/32) game for the team, but he hit seven of his nine free-throw attempts. He also added seven rebounds and six assists, a line good enough to overcome his seven turnovers.

Fellow freshman [autotag]Kon Knueppel[/autotag] was the second-leading scorer, adding 15 points (5/12 from the field and three-for-seven from three). He had nine rebounds, three assists, and five turnovers as well.

Aside from those two, [autotag]Mason Gillis[/autotag] was the only other player in double figures with 11 points off the bench. Notably, freshman center [autotag]Khaman Maluach[/autotag] had zero points, three rebounds, and zero assists, playing just 18 minutes.

For Wake Forest, guard Juke Harris led the way with 14 points and five rebounds. Starting guard Hunter Sallis was the only other player in double figures, playing all 40 minutes but scoring just 12 points on 11 shots.

Duke’s next opponent will be on a quick turnaround, facing N.C. State at home on Monday night. The Wolfpack fell to SMU on Saturday, 57-63.

Duke forward Maliq Brown ‘just isn’t close yet’ during knee sprain recovery, Jon Scheyer says

Duke basketball coach Jon Scheyer gave a positive update on Maliq Brown on Thursday, but the forward still has a ways to go in his recovery.

Duke basketball coach [autotag]Jon Scheyer[/autotag] gave Blue Devils fans a somewhat promising update about veteran forward [autotag]Maliq Brown[/autotag] on Thursday, but it doesn’t sound like a return to the court is imminent.

The Syracuse forward suffered a sprained knee against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish on January 11, an injury Scheyer said would keep him out for multiple weeks. While this weekend’s game against Wake Forest would mark two weeks from the injury, Scheyer said the Syracuse transfer isn’t ready for game action yet.

“He just isn’t close yet to doing anything five-on-five,” the third-year coach said.

According to The Athletic’s Brendan Marks, Scheyer did say that Brown’s been on the court in practice this week. He’s been limited to shooting and straight-line mobility exercises as he works his way back.

With Brown only playing one minute against the Irish and missing each of the last two games, freshman center [autotag]Khaman Maluach[/autotag] averaged 13.0 points, 9.7 rebounds, and 1.0 blocks with two double-doubles. Fellow first-year big man Patrick Ngongba II played 16.0 minutes per game last week after tallying just 17 minutes over the previous six games, and he’s amassed 4.0 points and 4.5 boards per night.

Cooper Flagg and Duke Blue Devils rise to top overall spot in ESPN Basketball Power Index

With another 20-point victory on the resume, the Duke Blue Devils jumped back atop the ESPN Basketball Power Index rankings on Sunday.

The Duke Blue Devils looked vulnerable for a few minutes on Saturday night.

The best team in the ACC fell behind Boston College 18-11 in the first nine minutes as the Eagles made everything they looked at. Freshman superstar [autotag]Cooper Flagg[/autotag], after a torrid three-week shooting stretch, opened just one-for-five from the field, and first-year center [autotag]Khaman Maluach[/autotag] picked up two early foul calls.

So, naturally, Duke won by 25 points.

The Blue Devils pulled away for another blowout at Conte Forum, giving them a 12th straight victory. Nine of those came by more than 20 points, so it’s easy to see why Duke returned to the No. 1 overall spot in the ESPN Basketball Power Index on Sunday.

Duke limited the Eagles to 29 second-half points, and it has now prevented 14 of its 18 opponents from scoring more than 65 for the game. Combine that with an offense that has broken the 80-point barrier in six of its last seven games, and the Blue Devils’ prowess becomes obvious. ESPN considers the team from Durham the second-best offense and third-best defense in the nation, and the Blue Devils are the only team with an index above 11.0 on both ends of the floor.

The Houston Cougars, Auburn Tigers, Tennessee Volunteers, and Iowa State Cyclones followed to make up the top five, but there’s a clear divide between the elite teams and everyone else. The gap between Duke and Iowa State is wider than the gap between the Cyclones and Mississippi State at No. 24.

With no other ACC team inside the top 25 of the BPI rankings, Duke is projected to finish with 18.9 wins in 20 conference games.

Don’t let Cooper Flagg and Kon Knueppel overshadow Duke freshman Khaman Maluach

It’s easy to get swept up in Cooper Flagg and Kon Knueppel, but Khaman Maluach might somehow be the most underrated freshman around.

The Duke basketball team is too loaded with freshman talent for each of the first-year starters to get their moment in the sun, but 7-footer [autotag]Khaman Maluach[/autotag] might be the most underrated lottery prospect in the country right now.

It’s hard to label a consensus top-10 draft pick as ‘underrated,’ but it feels apt given how rarely Maluach is the subject of discussion. Even in Duke’s last two games, the former Olympian has put together a pair of double-doubles just for [autotag]Cooper Flagg[/autotag] to score 42 points against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and [autotag]Kon Knueppel[/autotag] to make six 3-pointers against Miami.

No matter how much attention Maluach gets, however, he’s been instrumental in the Blue Devils finding their offensive groove over the last month.

Duke has scored at least 82 points in five of its last six games, clambering all the way to fourth in KenPom’s adjusted offensive efficiency rankings, and Maluach’s expanded role has been essential to that growth. The center has averaged 23.2 minutes and taken 5.2 shots from the floor per game, notable jumps from his 18.2 minutes and 2.6 attempts in the first 11 games.

His evolution is obvious on tape as well, as his teammates look much more comfortable throwing the ball toward the rim when he’s in the paint. Knueppel, Flagg, and the other ball-handlers seem willing to throw up lobs even when Maluach doesn’t have perfect leverage, relying upon his 9-foot-8 standing reach to make a play on the ball.

His combination of size and speed makes him particularly impossible to stop once he gets the ball in his hands. He often doesn’t even dribble, either plucking the ball out of the air for a dunk or spinning for a short floater. The process results in some insane efficiency as he hasn’t missed multiple shots in a game since November 16. He’s 79.7% from the field this season, and his 149.8 offensive rating laps any other Blue Devil with enough minutes to qualify (Knueppel is second at 129.3).

The end result is a player averaging 11.3 points over Duke’s last 11 games and 14.0 points over the last three.

And that doesn’t even mention the part of his game that makes him a truly elite prospect: his defense.

Maluach’s height and long arms make him an obvious rim protector, averaging 1.1 blocks per game, and his mere presence is a big reason why Duke’s opponents have an effective field goal percentage of 42.6%.

But he sets himself apart from other talented bigs with his speed, which was on full display against Miami. There were several moments in which the Hurricanes switched to drag Maluach out to the perimeter, hoping to sneak a smaller guard around him, and he met the challenge with ease. Miami’s lost 13 of its past 14 games, yes, but that was one of KenPom’s top 50 offenses on the year, and Maluach was a steel trap inside and out.

Flagg is the best player in the country, and Knueppel’s increased consistency from the 3-point line gives Duke a championship ceiling. But if the Blue Devils actually cut down the nets, Maluach will probably be the talent that puts them over the top.

Duke basketball superstar Cooper Flagg has become one of the ACC’s best facilitators

Cooper Flagg didn’t score 42 points again on Tuesday night, but he did something else he’s gotten quite good at: set up his teammates.

Given the standard that freshman superstar [autotag]Cooper Flagg[/autotag] has already set just 17 games into his collegiate career, it’d be easy for Duke basketball fans to see his 13 points against Miami on Tuesday as underwhelming.

They didn’t have an impact on the game, obviously. The Blue Devils won by 35 points, and fellow five-star freshman [autotag]Kon Knueppel[/autotag] was a little busy going six-for-eight from 3-point range. But Flagg had put at least 19 points on the board in seven of Duke’s previous nine games, including an ACC freshman record 42 against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish just on Saturday.

Despite all of those numbers, however, Flagg still commandeered the Duke offense to one of its most efficient nights of the season. The Blue Devils’ 89 points tied their third-highest total of the season and their most in ACC play thus far, and a large part of that stemmed from Flagg.

He just did it as a passer. And that should scare the rest of the country far, far more.

Flagg dealt six assists to his teammates, his eighth straight game with multiple dimes, and he’s averaged 5.4 over Duke’s previous five games. Even in that scoring explosion against Notre Dame, he ended up with seven.

Duke’s prized freshman isn’t getting his numbers in the same fashion over and over again, either. He’s become more comfortable tossing lobs to classmate [autotag]Khaman Maluach[/autotag] or working with Knueppel in the pick-and-roll game, but he’s adept at finding open teammates on the perimeter if he drives and draws multiple bodies.

But that’s where the problem arises. He always draws multiple bodies because no one can slow him down one-on-one.

Through January 14, Flagg ranks eighth among ACC players with 4.1 assists per game. Of the conference’s nine players averaging at least four per night, he’s the only one producing more than 18 points per game. The Blue Devils knew they were getting a defensive anchor and a dominant athlete during the recruiting process, but the fact that Flagg is also the conference’s best offensive engine is hard to fathom.

To get ahead of one caveat on the box score, Flagg did turn the ball over six times against the Hurricanes. One ill-advised cross-court pass to Mason Gillis looked particularly questionable in real time. But the first-year phenom still has a 1.57 assist-to-turnover ratio, an impressive number for his size profile and usage, and that number has jumped to 1.82 since the start of December.

Head coach [autotag]Jon Scheyer[/autotag] said early in the season, particularly after two late turnovers against the Kentucky Wildcats, that Flagg’s high usage rate would pay dividends down the line. Even for the highest expectations, however, Flagg being the team’s best passer sounded ludicrous. And yet it happened.

And he seems to still be getting better.

The best Duke basketball photos from Tuesday’s win over the Miami Hurricanes

Check out the best Duke basketball photos from Tuesday’s win over the Miami Hurricanes.

The Miami Hurricanes didn’t stand a chance against the Duke offense on Tuesday, helpless to stop [autotag]Kon Knueppel[/autotag] and his teammates in an 89-54 Blue Devils victory.

Knueppel made four 3-pointers in the opening half, part of a six-for-eight day from distance as he scored a career-high 25 points. Three other Duke players reached double-digits for the game, including 13 points from freshman sensation [autotag]Cooper Flagg[/autotag] and a 12-point, 15-rebound double-double from first-year center [autotag]Khaman Maluach[/autotag].

Duke scored 50 points in the first half and made 17 threes as a team at Cameron Indoor Stadium, tied for its most in a single game this season. The Blue Devils finished with more assists (25) than the Hurricanes made field goals (23).

Check out the best photos from Tuesday’s game below.

Kon Knueppel helps Duke basketball bury Miami with six threes in 35-point blowout

Last time Duke played at Cameron Indoor Stadium, Cooper Flagg put on a one-man show. Against Miami on Tuesday, it was Kon Knueppel’s turn.

The last time Duke basketball fans filed into Cameron Indoor Stadium, freshman superstar [autotag]Cooper Flagg[/autotag] put together his magnum opus with a 42-point game against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish.

On Tuesday night against the Miami Hurricanes, it was classmate [autotag]Kon Knueppel[/autotag]’s turn.

The five-star talent from Wisconsin scored a career-high 25 points against Miami, making six of his eight 3-pointers in the 89-54 blowout win.

The Hurricanes limped into Durham in desperate need of a reclamation victory. Miami had lost 12 of its last 13 games for a 4-12 record, and dating back to January 30 of last year, the Hurricanes were just 4-23 before the midweek game. Legendary coach Jim Larrañaga, who led them to the Final Four just two years ago, announced his midseason retirement in the last week of December, another blow to the program.

The Blue Devils, on the other hand, had won each of their last 10 games, and Duke made it pretty clear almost immediately that neither team would change trends on Tuesday.

Knueppel made his first three of the day just three-and-a-half minutes into the game, a corner shot in front of the student section to open up a 9-6 lead. He buried his second less than 90 seconds later, and that one ignited one of the Blue Devils’ best shooting runs of the season.

Purdue transfer Mason Gillis made back-to-back triples on the next two possessions, part of a season-high 12 points for him on four-for-six shooting from distance, but Knueppel stole the show from all his teammates. He founded his mark from behind the arc again with 13:07 left until the half, the fourth of Duke’s six consecutive makes from 3-point range, to put himself in double-digits.

Knueppel worked his way through a particularly porous Miami defense, attacking the rim twice more for four additional points deep into the half, but the Hurricanes kept losing track of him in the corners. He let another 3-pointer rip in the final three minutes of the period, the exclamation mark on an 18-point half, and Miami stunningly gave him another open look in transition just three minutes into the second.

Over Duke’s last six games, Knueppel is averaging 16.7 points and shooting 21/45 (46.7%) from behind the line.

A few other Blue Devils put their best foot forward against the powerless visiting team. [autotag]Khaman Maluach[/autotag] ended with 12 points and a career-high 15 boards, his third double-double of the season and second in a row. Sophomore [autotag]Caleb Foster[/autotag], after two straight scoreless outings, knocked down two of his three looks from 3-point territory for nine points, tied for his highest single-game total since December 4.

Even with a (relatively) slow second half, the Blue Devils finished 17/32 (53.1%) from the most valuable area on the court, tied for the most triples they’ve made in a single game this season (They also made 17 against Army on November 8). Duke made 54.8% of its overall shots for the game, its sixth straight contest north of 50% as the offense slowly but surely catches up to the defense.

While Flagg only managed 13 points, the freshman sensation did finish with seven rebounds, six assists, and a steal.

Duke is now 15-2 for the season thanks to its 11th straight win, and eight of those victories have come by more than 20 points. The Blue Devils put that streak to the test again on Saturday with a road game against Boston College.

Latest 2025 NBA mock draft from Bleacher Report has Khaman Maluach to Thunder

What a steal for Oklahoma City if they can get him!

The Duke Blue Devils are one of the best teams in the country and will have three likely lottery picks in the 2025 NBA Draft.

By now, if you follow basketball, you have probably heard that Cooper Flagg is the top prospect to watch. His teammate, Kon Knueppel, also enjoyed a hot start to the season. But the other name worth following belongs to big man Khaman Maluach.

The 7-foot-2 big man played for NBA Academy Africa and represented South Sudan during the 2024 Olympics. His most recent game against Notre Dame was arguably the best of his collegiate career, recording 19 points (6-of-7 FG) with 10 rebounds and one block.

Here is more from Jonathan Wasserman in his latest mock draft (via Bleacher Report):

“Khaman Maluach’s 19 points against Notre Dame highlighted his advantageous length and mobility for catching lobs, grabbing offensive rebounds and creating easy opportunities. He’s also now up to 77.3 percent from the free-throw line, showing touch we’ve see him use on jumpers before he arrived at Duke.

Workouts will give Maluach a better opportunity to sell teams on his offense and range.

Regardless, he has a clear archetype with the size, length and movement for the easy baskets and rim protection to be deemed easily translatable. The stats might not show a lot of blocks, but the tape shows a disruptive defensive presence who forces his man to have to make difficult finishes over his reach.”

This would be a tremendous pick by Oklahoma City as they add more depth to their frontcourt, even if he is not ready to contribute right away.

But there is plenty of reason for promise and excitement. As a lob threat, per CBB Analytics, he leads all freshmen in alley-oops (13) by quite a bit.

Meanwhile, for more prospect coverage, here is our latest NBA mock draft at For The Win.

[lawrence-auto-related count=5 category=1373]