bstrickland@heraldsun.com; 419-6671
DURHAM -- ACC basketball programs don't release weekly injury reports like their football brethren, but a couple of Duke players appear to have barely avoided the injury report after falling hard to ground without the benefit of pads during Sunday night's ultra-physical battle with Wake Forest.
Junior Kyle Singler is probable to play Wednesday at N.C. State (9 p.m., WRAL) after avoiding a serious wrist injury against the Demon Deacons, and freshman Mason Plumlee looks good to go after falling hard on his hip in the same game.
Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski was concerned that Singler might have broken his right wrist when he barreled through the air on a foul late in Duke's 90-70 victory and then airballed the subsequent free throw.
"We think Kyle is going to be OK," Krzyzewski said Monday. "Instinctively, he put his arm out instead of down. Putting that arm out probably caused him to land a little bit more on his elbow, so at least he didn't take the full brunt of the fall on his wrist.
"I think the way he landed saved him from having a broken wrist."
Plumlee missed the first six games of the season with a broken bone in his left wrist suffered in practice, but he bounced back from an intentional foul call against Wake guard Ish Smith with little difficulty.
"It was really physical," Krzyzewski said. "I don't think that's the way games are always played, but we're both 2-1 (in the ACC) coming into the game, and both of us had good rest -- we're not rested now.
"Just the nature of something like that takes it up a notch or two."
Singler picked up his play a notch or two after halftime for the Blue Devils (15-2, 3-1 ACC), ranked seventh in the latest Associated Press poll. After hitting just 2 of 11 shots in the first half, Singler hit 5 of 8 in the second half, including a 3-pointer that gave Duke a 58-55 lead after Wake had erased a 12-point deficit -- a 3 that started a decisive 13-0 run.
"That shot came after he was maybe 3-for-13," Krzyzewski said. "He didn't have a good percentage, but the last part of the game and that shot were big-time."
Singler has had more than his share of subpar shooting games this season. After shooting 44.8 percent over his first two seasons, Singler is at 41.3 percent, his first season spent primarily on the perimeter.
Even so, he's averaging 15.7 points and 7.8 rebounds per game and is tied for the team lead in steals and ranks second in blocked shots.
"I don't think it's so much a slump as it is an adjustment," Krzyzewski said. "His matchups are not against a four; they're against a two or a three. So the speed at which you take the shot and the strength, that's all an adjustment. Last year, he had more time to shoot because the four would maybe lose him because they're just not as accustomed to playing on the perimeter as much.
"He's coming along. He has not shot great, but he's played extremely well. That what a good player does: He doesn't let one specific part of his game define him."
N.C. State (12-6, 1-3) has an injury concern entering Wednesday's game. Senior starter Dennis Horner, slowed of late by a knee injury suffered in a Jan. 9 loss to Virginia, sat out practice Monday.
