Duke Archives | Page 48 of 95

By ADAM ZAGORIA

Duke has had no discussion of shutting down freshman phenom Zion Williamson for the rest of the season because of his right knee sprain, and there is no timetable on his return.

The 6-foot-7 Williamson sat out then-No. 1 Duke’s win at Syracuse on Saturday and will miss Tuesday’s game at No. 20 Virginia Tech. He is listed as day-to-day going forward.

“He’s not going to play but he’s getting better,” Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said Monday.

“There’s no timetable there. We don’t want to put the pressure of time on him. Let’s just take care of it. We have a great resume this season and we’re hoping to continue to do that. The main thing is for him to get healthy and for us to continue to improve.”

Coach K previously said there was no talk of shutting Williamson down.

“We would never play a kid who’s not ready,” Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said, per ESPN. “We would never play a youngster who didn’t want to play. It’s not about that. He wants to play. He loves being at Duke. He doesn’t like being injured. It’s an injury you can get over in a shorter period of time. There’s just a protocol that we have to go through to make sure he’s completely ready. We’re not rushing anything, so that’s why we said day-to-day because it’s literally day-to-day.”

Breaking News, Duke, Syracuse

R.J. Barrett drops 30 as No. 1 Duke wins at Syracuse without Zion

February 23, 2019

author: Adam Zagoria

By ADAM ZAGORIA

Without Zion Williamson, R.J. Barrett and his Duke teammates will have to step up for however long the projected No. 1 Draft pick is out.

That’s just what Barrett did Saturday night when he went for 30 points, 7 assists and 5 rebounds as No. 1 Duke beat Syracuse, 75-65, at the Carrier Dome to avenge a home loss to the Orange last month. With the win, Duke improved to 7-0 on the road this season — the best mark in Division 1.

“[Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski told us] just to continue to be leaders,” Barrett told ESPN’s Maria Taylor of the plan sans Williamson. “We all have to do more with him out and that’s what we did today.”

Williamson, the projected No. 1 pick in the NBA Draft, sat on the bench in sweats and is listed as day-to-day with a Grade 1 knee sprain suffered Wednesday against North Carolina. His status going forward remains unclear.