Harry Giles vs. Tennessee State: Stats, Highlights, Reaction from Duke F's Debut

Harry Giles made his long-awaited debut for Duke on Monday, but the forward didn't make much of an impact in his first appearance of the season.

The freshman was considered the No. 2 overall recruit in the 2016 class behind only Kansas' Josh Jackson, per Scout.com, but he has been out recovering from knee surgery. He returned to the court Monday against Tennessee State, barely showing up on the stat sheet in a 65-55 Duke win.

Minutes	FG-FGA	Points	Rebounds	Assists	Fouls
4	0-1	0	0	0	0

There was at least a lot of excitement when he stepped on the court, as captured by ESPN:

Duke Basketball's Twitter account also recognized the moment:

He missed his first shot attempt from the floor and sat back down after four minutes of action.

With Tennessee State proving to be a tough opponent, even earning a second-half lead, head coach Mike Krzyzewski was forced to keep a short bench while relying mostly on his starters down the stretch. Giles never returned to the court.

Even Marques Bolden, who returned from injury three games earlier, only saw six minutes in a close game.

Krzyzewski explained the reasoning for the limited minutes after the contest, per Stephen Schramm of the Fayetteville Observer:

While this was a relatively disappointing debut for Giles, fans should clearly temper expectations for a player who has missed a lot of basketball with multiple injuries.

"Harry Giles with a forgettable college debut. 4 minutes, missed one shot. Nothing else on the stat sheet," ESPN's Jeff Goodman noted. "Be patient with him. Missed last 13 months. Will take time. However, key was he came back—since there was some speculation that he might not play this season."

Meanwhile, Kevin Flaherty of 247Sports added his thoughts on the return:

Giles has had to overcome plenty of obstacles to just get onto the court, missing all of his senior season with a torn ACL. However, his potential is obvious as a 6'10" forward with the ability to score inside and from the perimeter. He is also an elite interior defender when healthy.

His missed time has caused a drop in stock, but DraftExpress still expects him to be taken in the lottery of the 2017 NBA draft.

With his obvious talent, Duke should be excited that he returned to action with plenty of time left in the season to make an impact. The Blue Devils have one more nonconference game on Wednesday against Elon before starting the ACC schedule against Virginia Tech.

If Giles can regain his old form, Duke should once again be one of the top contenders for a national championship.