The Duke Blue Devils suffered their second loss of the season on Saturday afternoon in an overtime thriller against Utah. Duke was without one of its players during the game in Amile Jefferson, who suffered a fracture in his right foot during practice, and it may be without him for a while longer. The initial prognosis on Jefferson was that he would miss about a month, but now it seems like it could be closer to two months, according to Jeff Goodman of ESPN.
Jefferson suffered the injury while going after a loose ball during a practice on Dec. 12 and has missed the Blue Devils' last two games. Jefferson is still on crutches, and head coach Mike Krzyzewski thinks he will miss a good amount of time.
"It'll be more than a month, maybe two. We expect him back later in the season. It's later than earlier," said Krzyzewski.
Jefferson is expected to be re-evaluated when Duke returns from the semester break on Dec. 26, but the expectation is that the injury will not require surgery. The 6-foot-9 senior has been an invaluable member of the Duke basketball team for the last few years as he helped it win a national championship last season, and losing him this season will really hurt the Blue Devils. Jefferson is one of the leaders on the team, and he is averaging 11.4 points and 10.3 rebounds through nine games.
Jefferson leads the team in rebounding, and his absence was clear against Utah as Duke was killed on the glass, getting out-rebounded 56 to 38. Jefferson has missed two games since hurting his foot, and Krzyzewski has used two different starting lineups to replace him. In a win against Georgia Southern, freshman forward Luke Kennard moved into the starting lineup, while in the loss to Utah, freshman point guard Derryck Thornton moved into the starting lineup.
The good news for the Blue Devils is that they are still an extremely talented team that should be able to withstand Jefferson's injury in the short-term and he is expected back. Whether he misses one or two months, Jefferson should be able to return toward the end of ACC play and be a full go during conference tournament and NCAA tournament play barring a setback.
