Duke basketball missed Mason Gills in ACC loss at Clemson. When could he return?
No. 2 Duke faced what appeared to be its toughest remaining ACC test of the regular season on Saturday night, and the Blue Devils came up short with a key reserve unavailable.
Mason Gillis missed his second consecutive game due to an illness and the Blue Devils lost 77-71 at Clemson to see their 16-game winning streak halted.
The 6-6 Gillis, who joined Duke as a transfer last spring after playing four seasons at Purdue, had played in every game for the Blue Devils (20-3, 12-1 ACC) this season prior to missing Wednesday night’s 83-54 win at Syracuse due to illness.
His health had not progressed enough for him to make the trip to Clemson and Duke couldn’t overcome it this time.
Gillis averages 4.8 points and 2.5 rebounds for the Blue Devils. He’s played 14.4 minutes per game and made 36.4% of his 3-pointers this season.
“I think not having Mason is a big deal,” Duke coach Jon Scheyer said Saturday night. “I didn’t feel we really had a true sub for him. Either we went smaller, or we would have played with some lineups that offensively wouldn’t be as good for us either. We were having a hard time scoring, so that’s something that I have to figure out.”
Duke shot 43.6%, making 12 of 24 3-pointers but hitting only 38.7% of its two-point shot attempts.
The Blue Devils next play on Wednesday at 9 p.m. against California at Cameron Indoor Stadium. That gives Gillis three full days plus most of Wednesday to convalesce and see if he can return to action.
Last Wednesday, after Gillis missed Duke’s win at Syracuse, Scheyer said it was difficult to get Gillis to agree to stay home and rest up.
“Look, Mason’s as tough as it gets, as competitive as its gets,” Scheyer said Wednesday night, “so for him not to be on this trip, he’s really sick. Otherwise, he’d be here.”
Saturday’s game at Clemson was the sixth game of the last seven Duke played without one of its regular rotation players. Maliq Brown, a 6-9 forward, missed four games with a sprained knee before returning to play the last three games.
With Gillis unavailable at Syracuse, 6-6 freshman Isaiah Evans saw extended playing time as he joined Brown as the first two reserves off Duke’s bench. Evans played 20 minutes, his second-most in an ACC game this season and only the second time he played 20 minutes or more in league play. Evans scored 10 points with a season-best four assists and three rebounds against the Orange
At Clemson, Evans was again an early entrant in the game off the bench along with Brown. Evans played 15 minutes, scoring three points against the Tigers. He made 1 of 2 3-pointers and committed one turnover. He played only four minutes in the second half.
This story was originally published February 8, 2025 at 5:05 PM.