In the 87-70 Duke basketball home win over the archrival UNC Tar Heels on Saturday night, the No. 2-ranked Blue Devils (19-2, 11-0 ACC) were at full strength for the first time since early January, as junior forward Maliq Brown returned to action after recovering from a knee injury.
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Now, though, third-year Duke basketball head coach Jon Scheyer and his squad are missing a different transfer forward in graduate Mason Gillis. The 6-foot-6, 225-pound reserve out of Purdue did not make the trip to Syracuse for the Blue Devils’ showdown against the Orange (10-12, 4-7 ACC) at 7 p.m. Wednesday (ESPN2).
The program’s official social media account announced Gillis’ absence via the following post roughly an hour before tipoff, noting that he remained in Durham due to illness:
NEWS: Mason Gillis will miss tonight’s game at Syracuse. He did not travel with the team due to illness.
— Duke Men’s Basketball (@DukeMBB) February 5, 2025
Mason Gillis, who has earned minutes in all 21 games for the Blue Devils thus far, is averaging 4.8 points and 2.5 rebounds while shooting 46.7 percent from the field, 36.4 percent beyond the arc, and 83.3 percent at the charity stripe.
If Duke defeats Syracuse, the Blue Devils will boast the program’s longest winning streak since the 2005-06 team reel off 17 in a row to begin its campaign.
Following the outing against the Orange, Scheyer and his crew will begin preparing the Blue Devils for a road battle against the Clemson Tigers (18-5, 10-2 ACC) at 6:30 p.m. ET Saturday (ESPN).
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