Jon Scheyer confirms Caleb Foster will not play vs. North Carolina
No. 9 Duke will close the regular season on Saturday without the services of Caleb Foster for the fourth straight game.
Jon Scheyer confirmed as much during his press conference on Thursday. He addressed the status of the freshman guard at the very start and said that he will be unavailable for the Blue Devils’ season-finale tomorrow against No. 7 North Carolina.
“He can’t go tomorrow,” said Scheyer. “Yeah, so, it’s not there yet.”
Foster suffered some form of injury to his foot/leg in his last appearance in the team’s loss at Wake Forest two weeks ago. Since then, he has missed the last three games while wearing a walking boot and using a scooter as part of his rehab.
Foster has played 25 minutes per game in 27 appearances this season with 15 starts for Duke. In those outings, he’s averaging 7.7 points, 2.4 rebound, and 2.1 assists while shooting 43.7% from the field and 40.6% from three.
Foster is a native of Charlotte who played his high school basketball out in California. He was a four-star prospect and the No. 20 overall recruit in 2023. That’s according to the On3 Industry Ranking, a weighted average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies. He finished as the No. 3 PG and the No. 3 player out of California. He was the lowest-ranked recruit in the Blue Devils’ last class that finished at No. 2 in the nation.
Duke surely wishes that Foster was still in the fold for them as they head into the postseason, even if they’re still currently undefeated in his absence. Still, this isn’t sounding like they can resolve it anytime soon based on the lack of clarity from Scheyer yesterday.
“Wish I had a more complete answer other than he can’t go,” said Scheyer.
“He’s not even able to practice or anything yet. So still a ways away,” Scheyer said.
Breaking down Duke-North Carolina rematch: ‘It’s going to be an absolute war’
To end the regular season, college basketball will go down Tobacco Road once again on Saturday when No. 7 North Carolina will play No. 7 Duke in Durham. Still, even with plenty up for grabs for both the Tar Heels and Blue Devils, On3’s James Fletcher III doesn’t know which way to lean between the two blue bloods this weekend.
Fletcher spoke about the Top-10 rivalry matchup from Cameron Indoor tomorrow during an interview on ‘Andy Staples On3’ on Friday. To him, this game feels very difficult to pick considering all things about the history of their series against on one another on the court.
“Handicapping is basically impossible,” said Fletcher. “I mean this rivalry goes beyond what players are on the floor and what the history of the season has been.”
“These two teams, when they get together? It is going to be an absolute war,” Fletcher said
In this edition, both teams come in with an overall record of 24-6. North Carolina has a slight lead in the ACC at 16-3 with a one-game lead over Duke heading into tomorrow. Each also is playing for seeding in the NCAA Tournament. North Carolina is a No. 2 and Duke is a No. 3 for Fletcher in his latest Bracketology. Meanwhile, both are already No. 2 seeds for Joe Lunardi at ESPN.
Now, after the Tar Heels won 93-84 just over a month ago, they’ll tipoff again in the season finale. For Fletcher, that means an ever so slight edge for Duke as the home team. Even so, he doesn’t expect the hostile environment to bother the experienced veterans of UNC.
“When the teams are this close on paper already? I think it’s just about impossible to pick out who’s going to win,” said Fletcher.
“You give Duke the slight advantage just because they’re at Cameron. Like you said, they’ve got home court,” Fletcher said. “But, these North Carolina players? A lot of them have been there for a while now. They know what it’s like to play at Duke. They’re not going to be caught off guard by that arena and that atmosphere.”