Courtesy of three 3-point splashes paired with the No. 4-ranked Duke basketball team’s patented lockdown intensity on the defensive end, the Blue Devils (13-2, 5-0 ACC) jumped out to an 11-0 lead before the first media timeout in their home bout against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish (7-8, 1-3 ACC) in Cameron Indoor Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
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Notre Dame had no choice but to call a timeout, as the contest was quickly getting out of hand. And that move by Fighting Irish head coach Micah Shrewsberry seemed to pay off, as his squad settled down, heated up, and pulled within eight at 44-36 entering the break.
One possible explanation for the Blue Devils’ surprising inability to get stops for much of the battle was the absence of Maliq Brown. The junior forward, Duke’s staunch defender off the bench, played only one minute before exiting the contest at the under-12 timeout.
He bumped knees with teammate Mason Gillis and was ruled out for the rest of the game, presumably just as a precaution.
The 6-foot-9, 222-pound Brown walked without any noticeable limp as the Blue Devils came out of the locker room for the second half.
Maliq Brown appears to be walking around fine. pic.twitter.com/Xky8alnobi
— Matt Giles (@MattGilesBD) January 11, 2025
Maliq Brown, averaging a team-high 3.3 steals per 40 minutes in his first Duke basketball campaign after transferring from Syracuse, has played in every game but one this season. He sat out the 72-46 win over Incarnate on Dec. 10 due to a toe injury.
At the time of this article’s publishing, Duke led Notre Dame, 75-61, with 7:03 to play.
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