Duke basketball captain Jeremy Roach 'not 100 percent yet'
Junior point guard Jeremy Roach has been on the court for five of Duke basketball's six games since sustaining a still-nagging toe injury on his right foot when the now-No. 16 Blue Devils (11-3, 2-1 ACC) lost to the now-No. 1 Purdue Boilermakers in the Phil Knight Legacy championship bout in late November.
RELATED: Blue Devils rise in AP poll, Tar Heels fall out again
However, the 21-year-old captain's production dipped a bit in Duke's past two contests: an 81-70 road loss to the Wake Forest Demon Deacons on Dec. 20 and an 86-67 home win over the Florida State Seminoles on Saturday.
Despite playing at least 29 minutes in both those games, Roach scored only nine points each time — his first back-to-back single-digit outings this season — while shooting a combined 5-for-17 from the field. Furthermore, he dished out only five assists in that stretch.
Judging by those numbers, the eye test, and what first-year Duke basketball head coach Jon Scheyer told the media at Tuesday morning's press conference, Jeremy Roach's toe injury remains a hurdle.
"I wish it was all the way better," Scheyer said. "I don't want to jump ahead as far as [it affecting him] the rest of the year. For us, it's taking it day by day with him. But he's progressing; it's just he's not 100 percent yet. So he's figured out a way to manage it and to play through it. But I want to get him to 100 percent — there's no question about it."
Next, the young Blue Devils face a hostile Tobacco Road environment when they play the NC State Wolfpack (11-4, 1-3 ACC) in Raleigh's PNC Arena at 7 p.m. ET Wednesday. Note NC State gets the bulk of its scoring from the potent three-headed starting backcourt of Terquavion Smith, Jarkel Joiner, and Casey Morsell.
RELATED: Predicted scores of every 2022-23 Duke game
Considering all of the above, whether or not Jeremy Roach bounces back from recent lackluster performances could be a deciding factor in the outcome.
"He's got to follow his instincts, play his game, play aggressively," Scheyer explained. "And he's the one guy that's been in these environments before. So I'm going to lean on him during this; that's not going to change. I think he'll be ready to go tomorrow but also moving forward."
Stay tuned to Blue Devil Country for daily Duke basketball content.
