Second-year Duke basketball player and first-year starter Patrick Ngongba II was out of commission for the No. 4-ranked Blue Devils' 70-54 road win over the unranked Pitt Panthers on Tuesday night after sustaining a left wrist injury at some point during the 71-68 road loss to the now-No. 11 UNC Tar Heels on Saturday night.
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Following the bout against the Panthers, fourth-year Duke basketball head coach Jon Scheyer provided an update on Ngongba's recovery.
"Yeah, I wish I knew," Scheyer noted about the 6-foot-11, 250-pound Virginia native's status for the Blue Devils' home contest versus the No. 20 Clemson Tigers in Cameron Indoor Stadium at noon ET Saturday (ESPN). "He got hurt in the Carolina game. He fell on his wrist. We were holding on hope on whether he could play today. I think that was incredibly unrealistic. He wasn't close to being ready.
"Proud of this win. We're a different team without Pat. We had some lineups out there we've never played before and I thought our guys really stepped up. All eight guys who played did some really good things to contribute to winning." pic.twitter.com/aeAyCKQSe6
– Duke Men's Basketball (@DukeMBB) February 11, 2026
"Pat's really tough. Pat's dealt with a lot of different [obstacles] – not major things this year, but just where he got hit on his other hand, and he's had stuff that, for him to be out, it's something. We have to see how he does the next couple days to see if there's even a chance and go from there. It's hard to say."
Duke basketball senior power forward Maliq Brown received the starting nod in place of Patrick Ngongba II on Tuesday night.
Through his 23 outings this season, Ngongba is averaging 10.7 points, 6.2 rebounds, 2.0 assists, 0.7 steals, and 1.3 blocks across his 22.6 minutes per game as a full-time starter. He's shooting 61.4 percent from the field, 28.0 percent beyond the arc, and 68.4 percent at the charity stripe.
Last season, Ngongba served as the backup to now-NBA rookie big man Khaman Maluach, averaging 3.9 points and 2.7 rebounds in only 10.5 minutes per game.
One Positive Regarding Patrick Ngongba II's Injury
"The good news is we got the imaging and all that," Scheyer pointed out on the Blue Devils Sports Network prior to the game at Pitt. "Everything is intact, and he's OK. But there's some stuff going on there with some soreness, and we got to get him right and healthy."
After welcoming the Tigers (20-4, 10-1 ACC) to Cameron on Saturday afternoon, the Blue Devils (22-2, 11-1 ACC) will prepare to host the unranked Syracuse Orange (13-11, 4-7 ACC) at 7 p.m. ET Monday (ESPN).
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This article was originally published on www.si.com/college/duke as Update on Duke Basketball Center Patrick Ngongba II's Injury.