The Duke basketball team could be getting a major lift on Friday night before taking on St. John’s in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament as both of its injured starters could return
Patrick Ngongba missed nearly three weeks with foot soreness before returning last Saturday in the Round of 32 against TCU. He played 13 minutes, recording four points, four rebounds, and four assists as Duke outscored the Horned Frogs by 20 points with him in the game.
The sophomore missed the regular season finale against North Carolian as well as the entire ACC Tournament and Round of 64 matchup with Siena.
Despite limited practice time this week, Duke head coach Jon Scheyer has no doubt that he will play against the Red Storm.
“Pat responded well,” Scheyer said on Thursday at Capital One Arena in Washington D.C. “You never know how that's going to go. He's on track to play again tomorrow, which is a really big deal for us.”
It’s other injured starter, Caleb Foster, who suffered a broken foot in the regular season finale against the Tar Heels on March 7 also has an outside shot to play.
“I just go back to when he got hurt, he told me, ‘Look, if I do this and work every day, you got to promise me you'll let me put this uniform on again with our guys,’” Scheyer explained.
“He's in a position where he's going to try to do that tomorrow night. He had a good day of practice yesterday, doing a little bit. We have to see how he feels today. Hopefully he progresses well enough tomorrow where, again, it's not like there's a lot of practice time, but we have to make sure he's in position before the game, more of a game-time decision.”
Foster was at Duke’s practice on Thursday and took place in stretch and shooting during the portion that was open to the media. As the media left the floor and the Blue Devils began doing full court drills, he was off to the side doing ball handing drills.
“He's going to give it everything he has to go tomorrow night,” Scheyer added.
Duke has been starting veteran big man Maliq Brown in place of Pat Ngongba and freshman guard Cayden Boozer for Caleb Foster. Even if both injured players take the floor tomorrow, the Blue Devils could bring each off the bench.
A berth in the Elite 8 will be on the line when St. John’s and Duke meet for the first time since the 2018-19 season.