Going up against one of the nation's premier defensive units, Duke will be playing without its top defender.
Freshman Tre Jones will not play for the Blue Devils Saturday night when top-ranked Duke hosts No. 4 Virginia at Cameron Indoor Stadium. Jones did not stretch with the team and was not in uniform during pregame warmups, he will be replaced in the starting lineup with Marques Bolden and Jack White as Javin DeLaurier was benched. Jones injured his right shoulder in a collision with Syracuse guard Frank Howard Monday, missing the final 30-plus minutes of the Blue Devils' 95-91 loss in Durham.
Later that night, Duke announced that Jones had suffered a separated AC joint, and in his postgame press conference after playing the Orange, head coach Mike Krzyzewski indicated that he thought Jones would be "out for a while."
But a glimmer of hope came Thursday afternoon when Dana O'Neil of The Athletic broke the news that Jones' injury was not as severe as initially believed. Coach K explained that it was slightly worse than a Grade 1 separation, and the Blue Devils did not immediately rule Jones out for the Saturday night battle in Durham.
"I don’t know if it’s for this game or the next game, but it’s not going to be long term, where it’s a month or something," Krzyzewski told The Athletic. "He’s going to be back."
Instead, Duke fans will have to wait at least one more game for Jones to return to action. The Blue Devils travel to Pittsburgh Tuesday night for a matchup with former associate head coach Jeff Capel before returning home next Saturday when they'll host Georgia Tech.
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Twitter: @mpgladstone13
A junior from just outside Philadelphia, Mitchell is probably reminding you how the Eagles won the Super Bowl this year and that the Phillies are definitely on the rebound. Outside of The Chronicle, he majors in Economics, minors in Statistics and is working toward the PJMS certificate, in addition to playing trombone in the Duke University Marching Band. And if you're getting him a sandwich with beef and cheese outside the state of Pennsylvania, you best not call it a "Philly cheesesteak."