Duke coach says Caleb Foster will try to make his March Madness return against St. John's

“He had a good day of practice yesterday, doing a little bit. We have to see how he feels today. Hopefully he progresses well enough tomorrow where, again, it’s not like there’s a lot of practice time, but we have to make sure he’s in position before the game, more of a game-time decision,” Scheyer said. “He’s going to give it everything he has to go tomorrow night.”

Foster is averaging 8.5 points per game this season. He's made 30 starts.

“I just go back to when he got hurt, he told me, ‘Look, if I do this and work every day, you got to promise me you’ll let me put this uniform on again with our guys,’” Scheyer said. “He’s in a position where he’s going to try to do that tomorrow night.”

Duke's other main injury concern was big man Patrick Ngongba II. He missed the ACC Tournament with a foot issue, but he played limited minutes in the second round of the NCAAs against TCU, scoring four points.

“Pat responded well. You never know how that’s going to go,” Scheyer said. “He’s on track to play again tomorrow, which is a really big deal for us.”

The 6-foot-11 Ngongba is averaging 10.5 points on the season.

The short-handed Blue Devils struggled in their NCAA Tournament opener against Siena, and it took some time for them to pull away from TCU as well. Now they take on a physical, battle-tested St. John's team coached by Rick Pitino.

“Hopefully the depth, Pat and Caleb again are in position, that can give us also where there’s not the pacing, there’s just the effort in a game like this you have to have every possession,” Scheyer said. “It’s harder to play longer minutes. That’s something for us that’s going to be a key thing.”

AP March Madness bracket: https://apnews.com/hub/ncaa-mens-bracket and coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/march-madness