Duke basketball fans noticed freshman forward Patrick Ngongba II sitting on the bench and wearing a walking boot while the team posted clips of its first official practice to social media earlier this week and his injury was confirmed on Friday morning by head coach Jon Scheyer.
During his media availability, Scheyer said that the 5-star recruit is not 100-percent healthy and has been ruled out indefinitely.
However, there isn’t a new injury for the freshman. He suffered the injury during the preseason of his high school senior season and it nearly forced him to miss the entire year. Ngongba returned to play in three games of Chipotle Nationals and saw action sparingly during the high school all-star game circuit.
He did participate this summer in Duke’s offseason workouts and played for Team USA at the 2024 FIBA Men’s U18 AmeriCup, averaging 4.5 points, 4.8 rebounds, 1.2 blocks and 1.0 assists per game.
Jon Scheyer added that the program wants to get him to a point where he is able to move without pain on the floor.
In the short term, Duke should not be impacted too much by the absence of Ngongba after adding a deep and talented frontcourt this offseason.
Freshman Khaman Maluach will likely command a majority of minutes at center while Syracuse transfer Maliq Brown, the ACC’s leader in steals last season, will also play a significant role for the Blue Devils in the frontcourt.
Cooper Flagg, Mason Gillis, and Sion James have the ability to play power forward.
Given Duke’s depth at the position, a red-shirt season might not be totally out of the question for Patrick Ngongba II, which would allow him to heal and recover at his own rate while then having the ability to rehab and get up to speed in practice.
A red-shirt freshman season for Ngongba in 2025-26 with the experience of being at Duke for a full season could be very beneficial to not only the 6-foot-11 center but the team as well.
