How are Duke’s injured players entering NCAA Tournament? Jon Scheyer updates
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Scheyer: Foster had right-foot surgery; unlikely to play before Final Four.
- Ngongba improving with therapy but remains day-by-day, no firm timeline.
- Injuries could affect NCAA seeding; Boozer had back-to-back 16-point games.
Caleb Foster and Patrick Ngongba watched from the bench in matching black hoodies and boots on their right feet as No. 1 seed Duke defeated No. 2 seed Virginia, 74-70, to win the ACC Championship on Saturday night at Charlotte’s Spectrum Center.
After the game, Duke coach Jon Scheyer offered an update on both players as the No. 1 Blue Devils turn their attention to the NCAA Tournament.
While Foster’s recovery is going to “be a little while still,” Scheyer said he felt “very positive” about Ngongba’s improvement but has no firm timeline on his return. Ngongba has been progressing with his therapy, but still remains day-to-day, Scheyer said Saturday night.
“He’s been doing his therapy, working with the medical team,” Scheyer said of Ngongba. “They’re just benchmarks. It’s a day-by-day thing to see how he can handle the next step and whether that soreness goes away. I can tell you he’s improving … but I can’t say what that means as far as later in the week in terms of timing or readiness, because we have to take it step by step.”
Both Foster and Ngongba were out for the ACC Tournament, using scooters to follow the team through the tunnels of the Spectrum Center and out to the court, where they cheered enthusiastically from the sidelines.
Ngongba was listed as a gametime decision and ultimately held out of Duke’s regular-season finale against UNC — a 76-61 victory over the Tar Heels on March 7 at Cameron Indoor Stadium. He participated in warmups but donned a walking boot on his right foot when he re-emerged from the locker room for the second half. That’s a result of foot soreness that crept up in the Blue Devils’ win over N.C. State earlier this month.
Foster underwent surgery for his broken right foot Sunday, with Scheyer acknowledging it was unlikely the junior point guard would play prior to the Final Four. He suffered the injury in the first half of the UNC-Duke game on March 7.
Scheyer commended both Foster and Ngongba this week for their diligence in the recovery process. He said on Friday night that Ngongba has been “working his butt off every day.” On Saturday, with an ACC Championship hat atop his head, Scheyer said Foster has “not taken a day off.”
“I’ve never seen a guy shoot so much in a scooter,” Scheyer said of Foster. “He gets in the gym and he gets his shots up every day … his voice, he’s right there with me in the huddles.
“There’s no question they wanted to win this for him tonight and for Pat as well,” Scheyer added later.
Foster’s absence, in particular, presents a significant player availability issue. It’s one that the NCAA selection committee will evaluate when it seeds the Blue Devils — although Cayden Boozer certainly showed he’s capable of stepping in for Foster this week.
Cayden Boozer scored a career-high 16 points in both Duke’s ACC Tournament semifinals and championship game, which bodes well for the injury-ridden Blue Devils moving forward.
“He has that ‘it’ factor,” Duke associate head coach Chris Carrawell said of Cayden Boozer after Saturday night’s win. “And now for him to come through the way he did tonight was incredible.”
The men’s NCAA Tournament bracket will be announced at 6 p.m. Sunday. Duke is expected to earn the top overall seed and begin play in Greenville, South Carolina, on March 19.
This story was originally published March 15, 2026 at 12:26 AM.