Jon Scheyer details severity of Mark Mitchell injury

Jon Scheyer gave some insight into the severity of Mark Mitchell’s injury that kept him out of Duke’s loss to the Tennessee Volunteers on Saturday.

Mitchell reportedly hurt his knee in practice Friday, and was having a hard time moving it before the game. Unfortunately, the Blue Devils’ worst fear came true, as one of their best players was unable to suit up in their Round of 32 showdown. They certainly missed him against Tennessee, and Scheyer explained the severity of the injury afterwards.

“Well, it happened last second. Mark hurt his knee. We’re not sure quite what’s wrong. We need to still do some follow-ups with him. But he didn’t feel great yesterday, and we felt like he was going to give it a go today and try,” stated Scheyer. “But Mark has been a warrior for us all year. Showed up every single day, competed every day, and right before the tip he just didn’t have the same burst. So obviously not going to put him out there if he didn’t feel great, and he didn’t. That happened late.

“He’s been a key guy for us. He’s started every game. He’s been — he’s really the guy where he defends everybody, he’s a jack-of-all-trades. You can have anybody on the court with him.”

Mitchell has started all 35 games for Duke this season, averaging 9.2 points and 3.2 rebounds per game as a true freshman. In the Blue Devils’ NCAA Tournament opener against No. 12 seed Oral Roberts, he had eight points and seven rebounds to help his team to the 74-51 victory to get to the second round. 

Moreover, Scheyer explained how emotions were scattered all over the place prior to the game due to Mitchell’s injury, but he didn’t want to use it as an excuse.

“It was a little hectic right before the game,” elaborated Scheyer. “And now also understand, they’re missing their starting point guard, too, so that’s not any excuse in any way. But for us, of course we miss Mark. Dariq did a good job stepping up. He’s done that throughout the year. I thought we ran out of gas down the stretch.”

Nevertheless, it’s disappointing for Duke’s season to end in the fashion it did, especially after the run they’ve been on. Still, the future is bright for Jon Scheyer’s squad, even if they won’t make it out of the opening weekend in his first season.