Zion Williamson Won't Play vs. Miami Due to Knee Injury

Duke announced that freshman superstar Zion Williamson will not play against Miami on Saturday while he continues his recovery from a Grade 1 sprain in his right knee.

It will mark Williamson's third consecutive game missed after suffering the injury in the opening seconds of an 88-72 loss to North Carolina on Feb. 20.

The Blue Devils beat Syracuse 75-65 in their first game without Williamson, but they fell to No. 20 Virginia Tech 77-72 on Tuesday.

Williamson is among the leading candidates to win College Player of the Year honors, as he is averaging 21.6 points, 8.8 rebounds, 2.2 assists, 2.2 steals and 1.8 blocks per game, while shooting a remarkable 68.3 percent from the field.

He is second on the team in scoring behind RJ Barrett and third in assists, but he leads the Blue Devils in both rebounding and steals.

In games Williamson has played in full this season, Duke is 23-2. It was the No. 1 ranked team in the nation for much of the season, but since Williamson went down, the Blue Devils have been dropped down to No. 3.

Duke is a lock to make the NCAA tournament, and it is difficult to envision the team being anything worse than a No. 2 or No. 3 seed in the tourney regardless of what happens over the final three games of the regular season and in the ACC tournament.

The most important thing for Duke is ensuring Williamson is healthy and able to play by the time the NCAA tournament starts.

Duke is still a dangerous team without Williamson due to the presence of Barrett, Cam Reddish and Tre Jones, and it is undoubtedly capable of beating lower-level teams. Miami finds itself in that category this season, as it is just 12-15 overall and 4-11 in conference play.

A home win over Miami can't be taken for granted, though, as the Hurricanes took North Carolina to overtime before losing 88-85 on the road last month.

With Williamson out again Saturday, much of the scoring burden will fall on Barrett and Reddish, while Alex O'Connell will likely have more scoring responsibility off the bench as well.