The Duke basketball team is catching a major break on Tuesday night in Louisville as Cardinal superstar freshman Mikel Brown Jr. will remain sidelined with a back injury and miss the pivotal game.
Brown Jr. has not played since December 13 and the Cards are 2-2 during that stretch with losses on the road against Tennessee and Stanford. Its only victories in the time period are against Montana and California.
Brown, a frontrunner for First Team All-ACC and projected lottery pick in the NBA Draft this summer, is averaging 16.6 points, 3.0 rebounds, and 5.1 assists per game while his shooting numbers haven’t been very efficient at 38.1-percent from the floor and 26.8-percent from 3-point range.
Still, he’s been a major force in a potent Cardinals offense that relies heavily on the 3-point shot.
During Monday’s ACC coaches conference call, Louisville head coach Pat Kelsey reveled that Brown suffered some setbacks as the team tried to ramp him back up in practice.
There was no timetable put on a return for Mikel Brown Jr., but Kelsey did say he expects him to return to the court very soon.
It had been reported that Brown Jr. suffered the injury in the weight room but that was debunked by Brown on social media Monday night.
Duke and Louisville will play again on January 26 inside Cameron Indoor Stadium.
The Cardinals have leaned even more on the shooting of Ryan Conwell and Isaac McKneely in Mikel Brown’s absence and will look to try and exploit a Blue Devil defense that has struggled mightily in the last four games.
This isn’t the first time Duke will not see a star freshman on the opposition this season as Darryn Peterson missed Kansas’ matchup against the Blue Devils due to a lingering hamstring injury in November.
Tipoff is slated for 7:00 p.m. ET (ESPN) inside the KFC Yum! Center.