Duke's Trevor Keels will not play against Louisville

Duke’s Trevor Keels is out for today’s game against Louisville, per a school spokesman via Jon Rothstein on Twitter.

Keels has missed the last two games (wins over Syracuse and Clemson) after going down with a right calf injury he suffered in the second half on Jan. 18 during their loss at Florida State. He played 29 minutes and contributed nine points, two assists and two rebounds on 3-11 shooting before leaving the game.

“He hasn’t practiced but he’s moving around better than he was,” Duke associate head coach Chris Carrawell said Thursday. “He’s still being reevaluated.” Carrawell said the star freshman is getting better, but he’s not there yet and has not practiced for the Blue Devils this week.

Keels averages 11.9 points, 3.6 rebounds and 3.2 assists per game this season. his scoring total ranks third on his team behind Paolo Banchero and Wendell Moore.

Despite the success Duke (16-3) has had this season, head coach Mike Krzyzewski feels this season has been a very “disjointed season”, saying the non-conference slate felt like he was essentially coaching a completely different team, especially without Keels on the floor.

That could be because of a near two-week layoff due to health and safety protocols that spanned through Christmas and the New Year. Since the start of ACC play, the Blue Devils are 6-2 with losses to Miami and Florida State, respectively. Both blemishes came by two points or less and they sit half a game back from the conference’s top spot behind Miami (7-2, ACC).

“We’ve got to keep getting to know each other,” he said. “Even though this is our [20th] game, it’s really like we’ve had two different seasons.”

Their opponents, the Louisville Cardinals, have been in the news this week for all the wrong reasons. Former head coach Chris Mack had his contract bought out by the university and now Mike Pegues will take over interim head coaching duties against the Blue Devils Saturday.

The Cards are sitting in the dead middle of the conference standings at 5-5 (11-9 overall), though are only 2.5 games back from the top spot. Not only would a win over Duke be a huge upset, it would put Louisville right back in ACC regular season title contentions.

Duke tips off against Louisville on the road at the KFC Yum! Center at noon ET and can be viewed live on ESPN and the ESPN app.