Zion Williamson Officially Inactive for Duke vs. UNC Because of Knee Injury

Duke announced that superstar freshman Zion Williamson will not play in Saturday's game against rival North Carolina, according to Marc J. Spears of ESPN's The Undefeated.

Williamson continues to recover from a Grade 1 right knee sprain suffered during the opening seconds of an 88-72 loss to UNC in late February. Saturday will mark Williamson's fifth consecutive missed game, and the No. 4 Blue Devils are 3-1 without him.

Meanwhile, the No. 3 Tar Heels have been on their best run of the season since beating Duke. When taking into account their win over Wake Forest in the previous game, North Carolina has won six in a row and is looking to clinch a share of the regular-season ACC title with a win Saturday.

The Blue Devils still have a chance to share the title as well, but they need to beat UNC without Williamson and also need Louisville to upset the No. 2 Virginia Cavaliers.

Failing that, the Blue Devils will be the No. 3 seed in the ACC tournament, which is where they will now hope Zion makes his return.

Before going down with the injury as a result of his shoe exploding while making a cut against the Tar Heels, Williamson was Duke's best all-around player. He is shooting 68.3 percent from the field while averaging 21.6 points, 8.8 rebounds, 2.2 assists, 2.2 steals and 1.8 blocks per game.

Zion was arguably the front-runner for Naismith College Player of the Year honors before his injury.

Without Williamson, fellow freshman stars RJ Barrett and Cam Reddish have stepped into even bigger roles for Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski. Also, sophomore guard Alex O'Connell has stepped into the starting lineup and produced at his best rate of the season.

With Williamson out, O'Connell figures to be the X-factor. If he hits his shots, Duke has a fighting chance.

Duke is comfortably in the NCAA tournament and would likely be a No. 1 seed if the tournament started today, but to solidify that status, the Blue Devils could obviously use Williamson's presence in the ACC tournament next week.