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Duke Blue Devils: Amile Jefferson Still Out

By John Woodcock

Dec 28, 2015; Durham, NC, USA; Duke Blue Devils forward Amile Jefferson (C) walks on crutches on the court prior to the game against the Elon Phoenix at Cameron Indoor Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark Dolejs-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 28, 2015; Durham, NC, USA; Duke Blue Devils forward Amile Jefferson (C) walks on crutches on the court prior to the game against the Elon Phoenix at Cameron Indoor Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark Dolejs-USA TODAY Sports /
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The Duke Blue Devils will not have the services of Amile Jefferson on Senior Night against the Heels.

The Duke Blue Devils will meet the North Carolina Tar Heels in Cameron Indoor Stadium for the season finale on Saturday. It will be senior night and Marshall Plumlee will be on the court manning the post to represent a Duke senior class that has a good chunk missing. I’m not talking about Rodney Hood or Rasheed Sulaimon, I’m referring to injured senior Amile Jefferson. Jefferson has missed most of the season and will likely miss Saturday as well.

That prognosis did not get any better when Coach Mike Krzyzewski said that Jefferson could not even plant on his hurt foot yet, according to reports from the Raleigh News and Observer’s Laura Keeley. Krzyzewski went so far to open the question of Jefferson taking a medical redshirt which would serve to give him another chance at Senior Night.

Jefferson has been a post roll player for Duke. He contributes rebounding and defense against other teams’ bigs. His injury has caused this Duke team to take on an identity not dissimilar from Villanova teams of the past. The only difference is the small Duke bench causes Chase Jeter and Plumlee to occasionally form a more natural post combination, but Duke has used the look to match Brandon Ingram on opposing big men.

Duke did get back to the seven man rotation as Matt Jones returned to action, placing Luke Kennard back on the bench and giving Duke a little more flexibility. Jones was injured in the first tilt with the Tar Heels, and his three point shooting never factored into that game. In this case, Kennard did an admirable job picking up the slack in that game.

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The Duke attack against the Tar Heels will look a lot like the first game they played. Grayson Allen and Ingram will try to take their men one-on-one from the perimeter to the hoop. Jones will likely set up for open threes while Plumlee will clean up mistakes. Duke will attack the lane and try to draw fouls on unprepared Tar Heels defenders.

What teams have tried to beat Duke with is physicality. That is not a North Carolina staple, but it worked for Pitt and nearly worked for Virginia when playing the Devils. The great fear when playing the Tar Heels is that they would get out and run and grind the other team down with fatigue. A seven man unit will just have to grin and bear that if it happens.

Duke will be slapping the floor in front of the Cameron Crazies Saturday night. Congratulations to the last of the Plumlees.

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