Cooper Flagg’s eye after inadvertent poke vs. Baylor looks painfully nasty

No. 1 Duke faces its first test of the NCAA Tournament in the Round of 32 against No. 9 Baylor. It's a friendly Duke crowd in Raleigh, but the Bears are a real threat, led by arguably Flagg's toughest lottery competition in VJ Edgecombe.

It has been a tightly contested first half, with Flagg looking the part of a future No. 1 pick. Every Duke fan held its breath, however, with the 18-year-old took a finger to the eye on inadvertent contact under the rim.

Baylor's Norchad Omier put in a hard-fought post-up bucket early in the first half with Flagg contesting. On his way to the ground, Omier's hand grazed Flagg's face.

This was clearly not intentional — Duke fans, don't go there — but Omier got a nice chunk of Flagg's eyeball. The close-up on Flagg's face afterward was quite unsettling, with his face clearly red and swollen.

Cooper Flagg takes inadvertent hand to the face early in Duke-Baylor March Madness showdown

Flagg didn't miss any time, but he was bleeding above his left eye, per Tracy Wolfson on the broadcast. Already battling an ankle sprain, which held him out of the ACC Tournament finale, Flagg has proven his toughness. Eye injuries are a different ballgame, though, and it can be tough for players to fight through blurred vision.

It doesn't seem like Flagg has much of an issue, though. Here he is shortly after the contact, going straight at Edgecombe in the post and scoring with feather-soft touch in traffic. Flagg is not afraid to attack the lane and operate in a congested paint, which is a positive sign for the Blue Devils.

Flagg has been the No. 1-ranked prospect at FanSided since the beginning of the season. He didn't get off to the fastest start at Duke, but after some early-season trails, Flagg emerged as the Wooden Award favorite and the clear best player in the ACC.

He's averaging an impressive 18.7 points, 7.5 rebounds, and 4.1 assists on .488/.367/.831 splits for the Blue Devils, shouldering one of the heaviest workloads in college hoops. The holes in Flagg's profile are few and far between. He's not the most polished ball-handler, but he's a rangy defender, a dominant three-level scorer, and an impressively high-feel passer. It's difficult to find such complete players at Flagg's age. He is propped up as a generational talent for a reason, and Duke hopes to ride Flagg's complete skill set all the way to the NCAA Tournament championship.

This isn't the first time we've seen Flagg and Edgecombe pitted against one another. Here's Flagg telling Edgecombe "you're not like that" as a high schooler at Monteverde Academy.

This game means something to Flagg. It's really his first chance to prove his mettle against a top lottery prospect like Edgecombe. Baylor is under-matched, to be clear, but Flagg can still settle what few doubts persist if Duke cruises to victory in the second half.