Maliq Brown Update!

We should see him back soon and possibly on Saturday

Here’s some major news as we get ready for Saturday’s big game against our esteemed friend and notable scholars from Chapel Hill: Maliq Brown participated in a non-contact practice on Wednesday and there’s a chance that he might play on Saturday.

Here’s what Coach Jon Scheyer says: “We’ll test it out, see how he feels. Then we’ll make a decision on Saturday based on how he’s doing and if there’s a real chance for him to play.”

Duke’s done surprisingly well without Brown, who gives the Blue Devils a totally different look when he comes in for Khaman Maluach. Brown is great at getting at the ball and disrupting an offense.

Duke hasn’t been hurt yet by his absence, or at least not to where fans would notice. We’re sure that the staff does but for the rest of us, things appear to have gone well.

That’s mostly because of the improvement of Maluach and the emergence of Patrick Ngongba.

A well-regarded freshman, Ngongba was set back by an injury last season. It took him a while to get up to speed and he may still not be 100 percent. But he has played well enough to relieve Maluach without a huge dropoff and against NC State this past weekend, he had a critical play down the stretch that was just huge.

So in a perfect world, Duke gets through Brown’s absence with no particular problems, gets another solid big man as a result and only gets better as a result.