The 6-foot-9 junior was back as the feet-moving, deflection-forcing whiz critical to Duke's elite defensive machine. Yet he also stepped up on the offensive end with a pair of 3-pointers and a critical assist in the Blue Devils' decisive second-half push, helping them rally past North Carolina 82-69 to clinch the Atlantic Coast Conference outright regular-season crown.
Brown finished with eight points, three rebounds and three assists while posting a game-best plus-20 rating in his 16 minutes.
“I saw a look out of Maliq tonight that I haven't really seen for the whole year, but we all know he has,” freshman star Cooper Flagg said.
“I wish I had his spirit,” Duke coach Jon Scheyer said.
Flagg is the star, a leading candidate for national player of the year on a Final Four favorite and an 18-year-old long considered a potential No. 1 overall NBA draft pick. Yet on a team led by Flagg, Kon Knueppel and Tyrese Proctor, this game was a reminder of Brown's importance, too.
The junior Syracuse transfer, who didn't speak with reporters after Saturday's win, hadn't played since logging just 10 minutes at Virginia on Feb. 17. That's when he injured his left arm reaching into a passing lane to deflect a ball and had his arm in a sling afterward.
Scheyer had said medical imagine had found nothing unexpected in what he described as a dislocated shoulder, saying he was “optimistic” that Brown would be able to return at some point this season.
At first glance, it wouldn't seem huge to lose a player averaging 2.5 points and 4.1 rebounds from a team romping its way through its league schedule. But his value goes well beyond modest numbers; Brown is an unheralded standout with his ability to switch screens, defend multiple positions and use his length to create deflections — all of which elevates a unit ranked among KenPom's national leaders in defense by allowing 89.6 points per 100 possessions.
It certainly was critical in getting control of this game, with Duke going from being up 15 in the first half to staring at a rare second-half ACC deficit early after the break.
UNC fifth-year guard RJ Davis had 15 points by halftime in his final home game for the Tar Heels, scoring on a variety of tough step-back 3-pointers while aggressively looking for his shot.
By the time Davis buried a step-back jumper at the 17:43 mark, he was pounding his chest after hitting 20 points to put UNC up 52-47 in front of a roaring Smith Center crowd.
It was also Davis' last basket.
Brown proved critical in slowing down Davis, aggressively jumping out on screens to use his length to bother the 6-foot guard and force him to work farther behind the 3-point arc. Davis' jab steps that had created space became less effective, with Brown leading an all-eyes-on-RJ effort that grinded down the Tar Heels' perimeter flow and had them struggling to get to the rim.
The Tar Heels missed 22 of their last 27 shots, and UNC coach Hubert Davis mentioned Brown as a standout afterward.
“He's their best defensive big,” Davis said. “I know they have others that can block and alter shots, but his ability to guard on the perimeter, guard in the post, defend without fouling, get steals and deflections is at an elite level.”
Brown also threw in some pretty big offensive plays, too.
It was his backdoor pass from the perimeter that found a cutting Knueppel for the go-ahead score, then he capped a 12-0 burst by finishing Sion James' feed for a transition dunk and a 65-59 lead.
Moments later, Brown popped out on the left wing to take a feed from Flagg and catch all net on a 3-pointer to push Duke's lead to 68-61. He came through with one more, taking Caleb Foster's feed to hit a straightaway 3 at the 3:34 mark that pushed the margin back above double figures for good.
Not bad for a guy who was 2 for 9 from behind the arc all season.
“The one thing with being off this amount of time: he has shot a ton,” Scheyer said. “Like, he's shooting more than he ever has. Now he's kicking (director of player development) Justin Robinson's (butt) in shooting games. Before J-Rob was probably getting him a little bit. So I'm proud of the work he's done with J-Rob to have the confidence to shoot those shots.”
By the end, Brown was joining his teammates for a water-flinging celebration in a cramped visitors' locker room, the ACC championship trophy in hand. A No. 1 ranking in the AP Top 25 likely comes Monday. Then, next week's ACC Tournament.
The Blue Devils need him if they want to keep adding to those accolades.
“He always has been huge for us,” James said. “I’m so happy to have him back. He changed the way we look out there.”
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Credit: AP
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