The Duke basketball team will continue to be shorthanded for the next few weeks as Maliq Brown recovers from a knee sprain and the downtrodden ACC should allow the Blue Devils not to rush his return.
Brown has proven to be an elite defender since transferring from Syracuse and while not being an elite rim protector like freshman Khaman Maluach, his versatility and instincts are very rare in a player.
However, Duke has been fine without him. Maluach has averaged 13.0 points and 9.6 rebounds in 23.0 minutes per game since Brown’s absence and it’s also provided extended minutes for reserve rookie Patrick Ngongba II.
The Blue Devils have won both of its games since his injury in addition to its 8-point victory over Notre Dame when he was hurt after just one minute on the court.
Jon Scheyer told reporters on Monday that Brown has not been on the court doing any basketball activities since being sidelined but hopes that will change this week.
Still, Duke must be careful with its Swiss Army knife and allow him to fully heal while not risking any setbacks. The biggest key for the Blue Devils is to be fully healthy when the ACC and NCAA Tournaments begin, not against a subpar conference team in late January.
The goal for this team is to win a National Championship and a healthy Maliq Brown is a key for making a deep run.
There has been no timetable on his return to action with the exception of Scheyer telling the media that he will miss “an extended period of time,” which could be as long as several weeks.
No. 2 Duke (16-2, 8-0 ACC) will get a break this week entering its bye before returning on Saturday afternoon (4:30p.m. ET, ESPN) on the road against Wake Forest (14-4, 6-1 ACC).