Duke basketball coach Jon Scheyer offered ‘positive’ update on his two injured starters
Neither of the knee injuries that limited two Duke starters in the Blue Devils’ 84-79 win over Georgia Tech on Saturday are expected to be long-term concerns.
On Monday morning, Duke coach Jon Scheyer said that, while Jeremy Roach and Mark Mitchell aren’t likely to practice when the team resumes on-court work on Tuesday, they’ve not yet been ruled out for Saturday’s 8 p.m. game with Pittsburgh at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
“Hopeful for Saturday and we’ll take it day by day,” Scheyer said about both players.
A senior guard, Roach has started No. 11 Duke’s last 32 games, the final 16 of last season and all 16 this season thus far. He averages 14.6 points and 3.2 assists per game this season, while making 45.3% of his 3-pointers. He’s played more than any other Duke player this season, averaging 32.9 minutes per game.
During Saturday’s game with Georgia Tech, Roach limped to the bench with 8:22 to play in the game after appearing to bang knees with another player. Duke’s medical staff treated Roach’s right knee, removing him from the bench area for a short time, before he returned to the bench.
He checked back into the game with 4:08 remaining but lasted only 58 seconds before he limped to the bench once again, still favoring the right knee.
Scheyer said imaging tests of Roach’s knee revealed encouraging news.
“Got positive news where it’s we don’t feel anything serious,” Scheyer said. “It’s more day to day.”
The 6-9 Mitchell was not in uniform for the Georgia Tech game, just the third time this season he’s not been in the starting lineup. He’s dealing with a sprained knee
With no midweek game this week, the Blue Devils (13-3, 4-1 ACC) did not have practices scheduled for Sunday or Monday, opting to only have the players lift weights on Monday. Scheyer indicated that neither Roach nor Mitchell would practice Tuesday and said that Roach could miss multiple practices.
“We’ll see where he’s at tomorrow,” Scheyer said. “I doubt he’s able to practice for the next few days.”
This story was originally published January 15, 2024 at 10:35 AM with the headline "Duke basketball coach Jon Scheyer offered ‘positive’ update on his two injured starters."