Sad News: Tar Heel Best Star Player Say He Will Never Play With Tar Heel Again If Hubert Davis Coach.

The Blue Devils will be without the services of Caleb Foster when they welcome the UNC basketball squad to Cameron Indoor Stadium.

Duke basketball’s Caleb Foster hasn’t played since sustaining a right lower leg injury during the second half of the Blue Devils’ infamous court-stormed loss at Wake Forest two weeks ago. And the five-star freshman will be sidelined once again when Jon Scheyer’s bunch hosts its UNC basketball archrivals at 6:30 p.m. ET Saturday (ESPN).

“He can’t go [on Saturday night],” Scheyer explained to the media about Foster’s status on Thursday as his No. 9 Blue Devils (24-6, 15-4 ACC) look to tie the season series with UNC and send the No. 7 Tar Heels (24-6, 16-3) back to Chapel Hill with only a share of the conference’s regular-season title.

“[He’s] not there yet. And I wish I had a more complete answer other than he can’t go [against UNC] and he’s not even able to practice or anything yet.”

Foster played 19 minutes off the bench in Duke’s 93-84 loss at UNC on Feb. 3, fouling out of the contest after tallying five points, two rebounds, one assist, and one steal.

Although he’s not one of the Blue Devils’ premier weapons — the squad’s sixth-highest scorer at 7.7 points per outing — he’s knocked down over 40 percent of his 3-point attempts this season and has been an admirable fill-in starter for a group that has experienced its fair share of injuries.

Plus, it’s worth noting that Caleb Foster led Duke with his 18 points and 4-for-5 clip beyond the arc in a primetime victory over Michigan State in November.

In other words, his absence gives the Tar Heels one less potential X factor to worry about in Cameron Indoor Stadium. That said, the Blue Devils are riding a three-game winning streak without him.

University of North Carolina basketball fans rushed Franklin Street in downtown Chapel Hill, N.C. following the Tar Heels’ win over Duke.

News & Observer photojournalist Travis Long captured a timelapse video of the scene Saturday night, March 9, 2024.

UNC-Chapel Hill basketball fans celebrate on Franklin Street following the UNC men’s basketball team’s 84-79 win over Duke at Cameron Indoor Stadium on Saturday, March, 9, 2024. Travis Long tlong@newsobserver.com

The Blue Devils’ standout big man explained what happened during the first half.

Duke’s Kyle Filipowski denied intentionally tripping North Carolina’s Harrison Ingram during the first half of the Blue Devils’ 84-79 loss on Saturday, a play that seemed to energize both sides of the rivalry. The play resulted in UNC coach Hubert Davis immediately sharing his gripes with officials, who spoke with Filipowski but didn’t call a foul or stop play with a whistle.

“I’m not really too sure how that whole situation happened to be honest,” Filipowski said after the game. “I was really just getting up. My foot slipped. I don’t know how I caught him. That’s really all I’ve got.”

Filipowski said he didn’t know Ingram was trailing the play behind him after he fell to the floor.

The move looked similar to former Duke star Grayson Allen, who served a suspension during his career with the Blue Devils for tripping. Filipowski recently drew national headlines after being on the receiving end of Wake Forest’s court-storming earlier this season that resulted in a non-serious injury for the 7-foot sophomore.

Filipowski collided with a fan on the floor and had to be helped to the locker room by teammates and Duke coach Jon Scheyer following the Blue Devils’ upset loss.

During Saturday’s loss to the Tar Heels, Filipowski led Duke with 23 points.

“We didn’t play our best basketball overall,” Filipowski said. “We’re still one of the best teams in the country. Our season’s not defined by UNC.”

Duke trailed by 15 points early and failed to recover in its second loss of the season to North Carolina, which clinched the ACC’s regular-season championship outright with the victory on the Blue Devils’ home floor.

“As a team, you know it’s senior night, and I think we probably got caught up in some of that stuff – and all well-intentioned – but we didn’t play like we’ve been playing,” Scheyer said after the loss to North Carolina, via The Devils Den.”The connectivity on offense and you’ve got to get some of those loose balls. Still, like I said, it’s a one-possession game start of the second half, you cut it to three late, you’re still right there, but just too many plays throughout. I told the team afterwards, it’d be one thing if we lost and we weren’t good enough or it’s something you can’t control; I feel everything here is what we can control. I really do, like this group can do it. We have to learn from this.

“You have to learn and understand those possessions. It’s not just a bad shot; it’s a bad shot now you’re down three and they have momentum. You know, I could go through the game. This group has always responded, I think it’s going to be nothing different now. But it hurts, it’s disappointing, and we have to get refreshed and regrouped and go into ACC Tournament fresh and understand what we have to do to get better.”

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Duke had won eight of its last nine games coming in since its previous loss to the Tar Heels. The Blue Devils will be the No. 2 seed in next week’s ACC Tournament in hopes of meeting UNC for a third time this season prior to the NCAA Tournament.