Duke’s Patrick Ngongba II listed as probable for Saturday
It looks like Duke will only have to go one game without Patrick Ngongba II.
Duke’s sophomore center is listed as probable on the initial availability report for Saturday’s game against Clemson. The report was released by the ACC on Friday night.
Ngongba suffered a left wrist injury during Duke’s loss at North Carolina last weekend. Before the Blue Devils’ game at Pittsburgh on Tuesday night, he was pictured on the team’s Instagram account with a brace/wrap on his left hand.
He didn’t play in the game, the first one he has missed this season.
Ngongba is the best interior defender the Blue Devils have — and the frontcourt thins quickly without him.
The 6-11, 250-pounder is third on the team in scoring (10.7 points per game) and second in rebounding (6.2 per game). Ngongba’s block rate (6.9%) on KenPom is the best on the team and 88th in the country, per KenPom.
Without the sophomore, Duke played freshman Cameron Boozer for 38 minutes at Pitt and got 24 minutes from Maliq Brown before he fouled out. Brown commits 5.6 fouls per 40 minutes (KenPom) and despite coming off the bench for most of the season, has fouled out of more games than Ngongba (three for Brown, two for Ngongba).
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