Patrick Ngongba 'Very Unlikely' to Play in Duke's March Madness Opener vs. Siena, Jon Scheyer Says
No. 1 Duke will be without a key member of its lineup when it opens the NCAA Tournament on Thursday against 16th-seeded Siena.
Blue Devils head coach Jon Scheyer confirmed on Wednesday that big man Patrick Ngongba is expected to miss the March Madness opener while he continues to recover from a foot injury.
"He's been progressing โฆ but think it's very unlikely that he plays [Thursday]," Scheyer said, per ESPN's David Hale. "We're taking it day by day. He's itching to play, but we're not quite there just yet. โฆ We'll do everything we can to get ready for Saturday and go from there."
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Ngongba started in 28 of his 29 appearances this year and averaged 10.7 points, 6.0 rebounds, 1.9 assists and 1.1 blocks while shooting 60.2 percent from the field. The sophomore hasn't played since March 2, and Scheyer added that a timetable for his return remains unclear.
"It's not a setback," Scheyer said. "It's not just anything where you can say two weeks and you're back, 12 days and you're back. You have to take it step by step with what he's doing. Everything is going in a good direction, but I think the comfort that we want him to feel is not quite there. So that's something we can only know day to day."
Duke is also set to be without junior point guard Caleb Foster, who is sidelined indefinitely due to a foot fracture. In the ACC Tournament, the Blue Devils utilized a seven-man rotation on their way to winning the conference title.
Star freshmanย Cameron Boozerย will have to shoulder the load as Duke tries to win its first national championship since 2015, but Scheyer is confident in his team's ability to overcome the loss of Ngongba and Foster.
"Pat gave us and will continue to give us as we get him back is just the interior scoring," Scheyer said. "It's important. His rim protection is valuable. Then end of the day, Cam, he just has to slide over to play some more in that spot, where he hasn't done that as much this year. I think we found some really good lineups that can be really tough to guard when we do that."
