Recapping everything Jon Scheyer said after Duke prevailed in North Carolina rivalry game without Cooper Flagg

Duke coach Jon Scheyer was shorthanded for the ACC Tournament semifinal clash against North Carolina on Friday. Their star product, Cooper Flagg, couldn't play after he suffered a left ankle injury in the quarterfinals against Georgia Tech. However, the team was still able to prevail 74-71 against North Carolina.

Kon Knueppel led the team with 17 points while Khaman Maluach added 13 points and nine rebounds. Meanwhile, Sion James had 12 points for the Blue Devils. Duke now awaits the winner of the second semifinal between No. 3 seed Clemson and No. 2 seed Louisville. The ACC title game will be played on Saturday, March 15, at 8:30 p.m. ET.

Scheyer addressed several questions from reporters after beating North Carolina for the third time this season. Here's the rundown.

Jon Scheyer's Duke made enough "winning plays" to edge out in close encounter

Scheyer spoke highly of his players, saying they had a good first half on defense. He did lament a few turnovers but said the team made enough winning plays.

"I just thought our team had great fight—an incredible fight stepping up, you know, with Coop and Maliq being out," coach Scheyer said. "I thought, you know, Tyrese and Khan in particular, they just had a great presence about them. (TS-0:06)

"Our defense was great in the first half, and then in the second half, we knew they'd put more pressure on our defense with their transition, and we probably had a couple of turnovers we wish we could get back to get them going. But you just have to make enough winning plays, and tonight, we made one more winning play than they did to get the win."

Jon Scheyer credits Khaman Maluach for converting crucial free throws

The game got tighter for Duke in the second half after North Carolina erased a 24-point, second-half deficit to one. Interestingly, both of Ven-Allen Lubin's free throws were left uncounted which could have given Tar Heels the lead with less than five seconds to play.

On the other end of the court, Khaman Malauch made two crucial free throws to snatch the game away for Duke.

"Khan’s two free throws were huge, you know, putting us up three. That’s a big difference," Scheyer said. "And I thought Tyrese maybe had the shot of the game—we were up four and just couldn’t score. They were scoring every time down, and he had a pull-up to put us up six, where it rolled in. That was a big basket for us to get some breathing room. But really proud of our team." (TS-0:49)

Jon Scheyer's nonchalant response to facing the winner of Louisville and Clemson

Jon Scheyer didn't delve much into his upcoming contest, which could be between Clemson or Louisville.

“Well, these guys haven’t even seen them yet, so I haven’t even seen them. Do what we do,” Scheyer said.

The coach was also asked about his team's execution, particularly in light of the absence of Duke's two key players: Cooper Flagg and Maliq Brown.

“Well, of course, uh, second half, winning time. I mean, Cooper makes so many plays for us," Scheyer said. "His ability to break down defenders. Uh, and teams don’t usually want to switch on him ... They make it hard on you, and so you have to make some plays to break down the defense. I thought we did that. We just had too many careless plays. We have to be stronger with the ball in the second half. (TS-10:25)

"And it’s not just the fact, you know, score. Like, I would rather have had us punt the ball out of bounds a few times, you know, ‘cause at least we can set our defense. But once you give them the ball, they’re too fast in transition, man. They’re going to make you pay.”

Jon Scheyer provides update on Maliq Brown's injury

On the topic of Maliq’s injury, Scheyer provided an update:

"Maliq dislocated his shoulder, and we need to give it a couple of days. We need to get back to campus and figure this thing out. There's no expectation of him playing anytime soon."

With both Cooper Flagg and Maliq Brown likely unavailable for the finals, Duke will have to give it their best shot to become champions.