Caleb Foster recovering from his gutsy game for Duke. Will he start vs. UConn?
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Foster returned 20 days after foot surgery, played 18 minutes and scored 11 points.
- Coach Scheyer kept Foster off starting lineup but used him early as key reserve leader.
- Duke faces UConn in East final; Foster expected to play but not start in 2026 matchup.
Playing 18 minutes on a right foot still healing from a broken bone suffered 20 days earlier didn’t leave Duke’s Caleb Foster any worse for wear 24 hours later.
Duke coach Jon Scheyer said his junior guard, who impressed with a gusty, 11-point performance in his return to play Friday night when the Blue Devils beat St. Johns, 80-75, is recovering as well as can be expected.
“First time playing in a few weeks,” Scheyer said, “he’s sore and recovering like you would expect, but nothing concerning.”
That didn’t stop Duke, on Saturday night, from listing Foster as questionable on the NCAA’s official availability report for Sunday’s East Region final game with Connecticut. However, on the final availability report posted Sunday afternoon, neither Foster nor Ngongba was listed. That means both are available to play.
The 6-5 Foster, Duke’s most experienced ballhandler, hadn’t played in the postseason since injuring his foot on March 7 in Duke’s 76-61 win over North Carolina. He had surgery the following day and immediately targeted a return if Duke reached the NCAA Tournament’s second weekend.
While Scheyer only expected Foster to play 8-10 minutes in the Blue Devils’ Sweet 16 game against St. John’s at Capital One Arena, Foster exceeded that with 18 minutes of turnover-free play against the Red Storm’s pressure defense. Not only did he score all 11 of his points in the second half, he did so after the Red Storm built a 55-45 lead.
That helped the Blue Devils (35-2), for the sixth time this season and second time in the NCAA Tournament, erase a double-digit deficit to win.
Foster performance for the ages
His coaches and teammates called it surreal and miraculous, as Foster returned in less than three weeks from an injury that often means two months on the sidelines.
Saturday, just as he’d been doing during his initial recovery, Foster wheeled around on a knee scooter to protect his right foot. He wasn’t available for interviews because he was with the training staff getting medical treatment.
Foster started 30 of the 32 games he was available to play for Duke this season, becoming a key backcourt presence on a team that rolled to the ACC’s regular-season and tournament championships for the second consecutive year.
Now the No. 1-seeded Blue Devils aim to reach the Final Four for a second year in a row, needing a win over No. 2 seed UConn in Sunday’s East Region final at 5:05 p.m.
Foster’s importance for Duke vs. UConn
Scheyer said Foster will be important in the battle, saying “we want him to just continue to be himself. His leadership, his ability to get downhill, just making plays himself and really more of what he did (Friday).”
He won’t do so in the starting lineup, though. Scheyer said “nothing’s changed” with that, as Dame Sarr, Cayden Boozer, Maliq Brown, Isaiah Evans and Cameron Boozer have started all six of Duke’s postseason games thus far.
As the saying goes, if it ain’t broke….
Foster was among Duke’s first reserves off the bench against St. John’s, and he kept making so many good plays Scheyer had to keep him in during a second-half surge that lifted the Blue Devils to their 14th consecutive win.
First he scored seven consecutive Duke points to key the comeback. Later he added a pair of baskets in the final two minutes with drives into the lane that helped finish off the win.
“He went out there, he put his body on the line, even though he wasn’t supposed to play,” Brown said. “He was going through a lot of stuff going into that game, a lot of emotions. Just with their physicality, that’s the type of player he is. He’s going to do anything to help.”
This story was originally published March 28, 2026 at 6:02 PM with the headline "Caleb Foster recovering from his gutsy game for Duke. Will he start vs. UConn?."