Duke head coach Jon Scheyer sat down for his press conference ahead of the Sweet 16 matchup against Houston on Thursday, but he offered good injury news before anything else.
Jaylen Blakes, a junior guard, exited Sunday’s win over James Madison early after a scary fall. He went up for a breakaway dunk that was contested by the Dukes’ Noah Freidel, and the contact twisted Blakes around. The Blue Devil landed on his head and neck area, taking a few minutes to get up and get off the court.
On Thursday, Scheyer said Blakes would be ready to go against the Cougars.
“Yeah, that was really scary in the moment,” Scheyer said. “You always wonder, the next day, how they feel with a fall like that, and Jaylen’s been great. He’s felt really good.”
Scheyer added that the team didn’t have a very active day on Monday, so Blakes had some recovery time, but the junior has been a full practice participant from Tuesday onward.