Patrick Ngongba II listed as questionable for Saturday night
Injury news out of Chapel Hill isn’t the only injury news of the day ahead of Saturday night’s matchup.
Duke sophomore center Patrick Ngongba II is listed as questionable to play against North Carolina. A picture circulated on social media showed Ngongba wearing a walking boot on his right foot during an event with students at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
That registers as something of a surprise. Ngongba did not suffer an apparent injury in Duke’s last game, which was Monday night’s 93-64 throttling of N.C. State. The 6-11, 250-pounder only played 18 minutes against the Wolfpack — but that felt like it was because of the game script.
Ngongba is the only Duke player carrying an injury designation into Saturday night other than Iffy Ufochukwu, who’s been out for most of the season because of a torn ACL.
Ngongba is also the only player in Duke’s nine-man rotation who’s missed a game because of injury this season. He did not play at Pittsburgh — a game after Duke’s last loss, which was against UNC on Feb. 7 — because of a left wrist injury.
The Blue Devils would start senior Maliq Brown at center if Ngongba is unavailable. But the Blue Devils’ frontcourt options are limited, with the third option to play the 5-position being national player of the year frontrunner Cameron Boozer, who has played the 4-spot this season.
Earlier Friday, UNC announced star freshman Caleb Wilson will miss the rest of the season with a thumb injury suffered in practice on Thursday.
