As Duke Basketball made its emphatic return in Canada, one of the key Blue Devils made an early exit due to injury and did not return.
Everyone was thrilled to see Alex O’Connell back on the court to see the improvements the sophomore made from his freshman year.
Unfortunately, O’Connell was knocked out of Duke’s 86-67 win over Ryerson University in the first quarter after getting hit in the face with an elbow or forearm and he did not return.
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O’Connell immediately was holding his upper face/eye area and walked over to the bench, before heading into the locker room and not returning to the bench.
During the broadcast on ESPN+, Jay Bilas said he received a text message saying O’Connell was taken to a nearby hospital to be checkout and no further update would be provided last night.
However, this morning the Duke Basketball Twitter provided an update as Alex O’Connell has an orbital floor fracture and he will not play in the two remaining Canadian Tour games. The school also went onto say that O’Connell is expected to make a full recovery.
NEWS: Sophomore guard Alex O’Connell suffered an orbital floor fracture during last night’s game. He will miss the remainder of the #DukeCanadaTour, but is expected to make a full and routine recovery. pic.twitter.com/ILZjW3FJFQ
— Duke Men’s Basketball (@DukeMBB) August 16, 2018
Last season, O’Connell saw action in most games, with limited minutes. The Rosewell, Georgia native averaged 10.4 minutes per game, averaging 3.3 points, 1.4 rebounds, and 0.5 assists, while shooting 47.7% from the field and 48.9% from three point range.
Alex O’Connell cracked the starting five last night along side of R.J. Barrett, Zion Williamson, Javin DeLaurier, and Marques Bolden. O’Connell being in the starting five could have been due to the absence of Tre Jones and Cam Reddish, but nonetheless, O’Connell was still given a vote of confidence by Head Coach Mike Krzyzewski.
The injury does hamper O’Connell’s ability to display the improvements that he made over the summer, but is the time table is correct, he will be ready to go when the Blue Devils have their first official practice of the fall to get ready for the highly anticipated first night of the college basketball season as Duke takes on Kentucky in the Champions Classic.