Mason Gillis injury update: Duke makes final decision on forward vs. Cal

Duke forward Mason Gillis will be available for Wednesday evening’s game against the Cal Golden Bears, according to a school spokesperson. He has not played since the beginning of February. Gillis averages 4.1 points per game. He missed the last two games against Syracuse and Clemson with an illness.

Cooper Flagg finished with 27 points, five rebounds, three assists, and three steals for the Blue Devils, who weren’t challenged in the slightest bit by Cal. Duke rolled to a 78-57 win, holding a commanding 38-23 advantage at the end of the first half. They outscored the Golden Bears 40-34 in the second half, and the final result was never in doubt. Duke improved to 21-3 overall and 13-1 in the ACC, with their only loss in conference coming to the Clemson Tigers. Cal dropped to 12-13 and 5-9 in the ACC.

More on Mason Gillis and his career

Gillis contributed to key minutes of Duke’s comeback win over Louisville on December 8th. Duke went on an 18-2 run after Gillis entered the game due to Cooper Flagg picking up his fourth foul halfway through the second half. He also led the team with five assists against UIW (12/10), which matched his career high. Gillis also reached double figures with 10 points against Virginia Tech (12/31) in 10 minutes of work.

Gillis played high school basketball at New Castle High School in New Castle, IN, where he was a three-star prospect. According to the On3 Industry Ranking, a weighted average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies, he was the No. 144 overall recruit in the 2019 cycle.

After sitting out his freshman season at Purdue in 2019, Gillis became a fixture in the Boilermakers rotation, earning 23 starts in 28 games during his red-shirt freshman season and 25 starts and 33 games the following season.

In the two years that followed, Gillis would start less and less for Purdue but still average roughly the same amount of production, taking over as the team’s sixth man. He still averaged 21.2 minutes per game this past season. His points per game stay close to his career average of 6.3 (6.5), as did his total rebounds (3.9) and assists (1.7) during the Boilermakers’ run to this year’s national championship game.

Justin Rudolph also contributed to this article.