Auburn star forward Johni Broome -- the other frontrunner for National Player of the Year -- had a similar injury to Flagg earlier in the season that Pearl brought up on SEC Network. Broome suffered an ankle sprain in Auburn’s win over South Carolina in January, causing him to miss two games.

Auburn and Duke are still the top-two contenders coming into the postseason to win the national title in college basketball. With that, Bruce Pearl was asked about the effect that could now come from the injury to Cooper Flagg.

Duke’s Cooper Flagg, the ACC’s player and rookie of the year, appeared to injure his left ankle Thursday during the top-ranked Blue Devils’ ACC tournament opener in Charlotte. Flagg came down awkwardly on the foot of Georgia Tech’s Baye Ndongo while pulling down a rebound late in the first half.