Duke freshman forward Zion Williamson will miss yet another game, as the school announced Tuesday afternoon that he won't play in the Blue Devils' final home game of the season. No. 4 Duke hosts Wake Forest at 7 p.m. on Tuesday.
Williamson, who was initially diagnosed with a "day-to-day" Grade 1 right knee sprain, will be missing his fourth full game and in effect his fifth overall. He infamously went down less than a minute into Duke's home loss vs. North Carolina on Feb. 20. With Williamson almost certainly headed to the NBA this year, that injury will be the last time Williamson played in Cameron Indoor Stadium in an official game.
On Monday, Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said on a teleconference with the media that Williamson was in "phase four" of a four-phrase recovery process. Until recently, he had not been doing contact drills in practice. Williamson is still the frontrunner for Freshman of the Year, though his campaign for National Player of the Year has taken a little hit given his lack of playing availability across the previous two weeks.
Williamson (21.6 ppg, 8.8 rpg, 2.2 spg) could see his knee injury and the return come full circle: Duke (25-4, 13-3 ACC) closes out its regular season, as always, with a rematch against rival North Carolina (24-5, 14-2). The teams will tip in Chapel Hill, North Carolina on Saturday at 6 p.m. ET.
