Duke basketball will be without a key player in its quest for an NCAA Tournament title
Caleb Foster’s freshman season is over before he had a chance to experience playing in an NCAA Tournament game.
The Duke freshman guard’s right ankle injury, suffered last month, has not healed enough for him to play in the NCAA Tournament for the Blue Devils, Duke coach Jon Scheyer said Thursday.
“My heart breaks for Caleb,” Scheyer said, “because Caleb has done literally everything you could ask from a guy who has an injury and trying to get back out there.”
The Blue Devils (24-8), seeded No. 4 in the NCAA Tournament’s South Region, open tournament play Friday at 7:10 p.m. against No. 14 seed Vermont at Barlcays Center in Brooklyn.
Foster, who has a stress fracture in his right ankle, hasn’t been in uniform for Duke’s past five games. He’s been on the team bench in street clothes wearing a protective boot on his right foot. He’s also used a knee scooter to move around while not putting weight on his injured ankle.
Foster last played for the Blue Devils on Feb. 24, when he injured his right foot during an 83-79 loss at Wake Forest. Foster started but played only 22 minutes that day, missing the final 15:28 of the game.
Scheyer said the 6-5 Foster has received opinions from multiple doctors about his injury. He attempted to practice earlier this week before the Blue Devils traveled to New York for the NCAA Tournament.
“He wasn’t able to really be himself,” Scheyer said. “And so he’s going to be out. He has a stress fracture in his ankle, and it’s a unique injury. And so we’ll be missing him.”
Having played in 27 games this season, with 15 starts, Foster averages 7.7 points and has made 40.6% of his 3-pointers. The Wake Forest game, in which he was injured, was his third start in a row.
With Foster sidelined, Duke’s four-man rotation of guards shrunk to three with senior Jeremy Roach, sophomore Tyrese Proctor and freshman Jared McCain starting all five games since Foster was injured.
Foster played an average of 25.4 minutes per game over his 27 contests this season.
Proctor played all 40 minutes in each of Duke’s past three games. Roach has played no fewer than 35 minutes in each of the past five games. He played 39 minutes when North Carolina beat Duke, 84-79, in the regular-season finale on March 9 and 38 minutes in Duke’s 74-69 loss to N.C. State at the ACC Tournament last week.
“There’s no replacing Caleb,” Scheyer said. “He’s got a big heart. He’s a tough competitor and he’s just somebody that makes everybody better on the floor. And unfortunately we’ve had to play without him since the Wake Forest game and there’s no replacing him.”
Since then, Scheyer has opted to go big rather than give junior guard Jaylen Blakes more minutes. Freshman T.J. Power, a 6-9 forward, has seen his minutes increase, as has 6-9 freshman power forward Sean Stewart.
“We have really capable players off the bench, Jaylen Blakes and TJ Power,” Scheyer said. “And we need Jeremy Roach to be Jeremy Roach. We need Tyrese Proctor to be Tyrese Proctor. And obviously Jared to be him. I think there is a little bit for our team disappointed with Caleb, but there’s also the feeling of wanting to have his back.”
The Blue Devils are experienced in such situations this season. Proctor, Roach and sophomore forward Mark Mitchell have all missed games due to injuries the opening game back on Nov. 6.
Duke was without Proctor for four weeks after he sprained his right ankle on Dec. 2 in a 72-68 loss at Georgia Tech. But the Blue Devils won eight games in a row after that loss, including three wins with Proctor unavailable. One of those was Duke’s 78-70 win over Baylor at Madison Square Garden on Dec. 20.
While acknowledging the Blue Devils are a “different team” without Foster, Scheyer believes the season’s upheaval will help his team now.
“We’ve done this before,” Scheyer said. “We’ve done this throughout the year with different guys being out, and it’s no different now of how we need to step up and do it collectively.”
This story was originally published March 21, 2024 at 2:47 PM.