Injured Duke basketball freshmen hint at Friday night playing status

A pair of Duke basketball freshmen hinted at their playing status for Friday night. 

The much anticipated return of Duke basketball freshmen Dereck Lively and Dariq Whitehead is inching closer as the first week of the season comes to a close.

The Blue Devils (1-0) host the University of South Carolina Upstate (1-0) on Friday night and its two injured freshmen sent waves through social media on Thursday afternoon with a pair of tweets.

Center Dereck Lively, who has been sidelined due to a calf injury, tweeted “y’all better go to tomorrow night’s game,” signaling that he would be on the court for the first time this season.

The tweet has since been deleted but head coach Jon Scheyer has stated publicly that he thinks there is a good chance for the top ranked recruit to make his Duke debut inside Cameron Indoor Stadium on Friday night.

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Shortly after the tweet from Lively, Dariq Whitehead also took to Twitter to post “who tuning into the game tomorrow?”

Whitehead quickly deleted that posted and then posted a question in which he asked fans what five former Blue Devils they would take to create an 82-0 team.

Perhaps a good cover up.

Scheyer has admitted that Whitehead is further away from playing in a game than Lively but the freshman wing has been cleared for contact and the biggest hurdle surrounding the two players would be their conditioning.

Neither player took the court in Duke’s season opening victory over Jacksonville nor in the preseason scrimmages or exhibitions.

Is a Duke basketball surprise looming?

Could there be a surprise in Durham tomorrow in which No. 0 and No. 1 take the floor and get live action?

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It would certainly be a welcome sign for the Blue Devils who travel to Indianapolis to face the Kansas Jayhawks on Tuesday night in the State Farm Champions Classic and travel to Oregon to compete in the Phil Knight Legacy Tournament in two weeks.

Tipoff between Duke and USC Upstate is scheduled for 6:30p.m. (ACC Network).