Top-ranked Duke will be without starting point guard Caleb Foster, perhaps the rest of the way, after a right foot injury sustained in the first half of the win over North Carolina on Saturday night turned out to be a break requiring surgery.
Foster averages 8.5 points and 2.8 assists per game, shooting 44.2 percent from the field and 40.2 percent from three, in 25.4 minutes per game – so, very efficient.
Pretty good assist-to-turnover ratio, at 2.9:1.
I would expect that newly minted ACC Coach of the Year Jon Scheyer will decide to go with freshman Cayden Boozer as the starter at the point.
Boozer is averaging 6.5 points and 2.8 assists per game, shooting 50.0 percent from the field and 29.4 percent from three, in 20.7 minutes per game.
Boozer was the guy getting the backup minutes at the point, so Scheyer would likely have to go a few minutes per game with one of his shooting guards – Isaiah Evans (14.5 ppg, 42.6% FG, 36.7% 3FG), Dame Sarr (6.2 ppg, 40.2% FG, 33.3% 3FG) and Darren Harris (3.9 ppg, 38.8% FG, 35.5% 3FG) – for minutes at the one.
Also on Tuesday, we learned that starting center Patrick Ngongba (10.7 ppg, 6.0 rebounds/g, 60.2% FG, 26.7% 3FG) will miss the ACC Tournament with a foot issue.
I would expect ACC Sixth Man of the Year Maliq Brown (5.0 ppg, 4.7 rebounds/g, 60.5% FG, 17.2% 3FG) and Nicholas Khamenia (5.4 ppg, 3.2 rebounds/g, 44.9% FG, 32.9% 3FG) to eat up the frontcourt minutes in Ngongba’s absence.
But this will be a challenge – what has been a nine-man rotation will be, for at least a week, a seven-man rotation.
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Chris Graham
