Duke's rash of injuries continues as Amile Jefferson hurts right foot

Just when it seemed Duke finally had its full complement of weapons available for the first time all season, another key player suffered an ill-timed injury.

Senior forward Amile Jefferson injured his right foot when he landed awkwardly on a first-half shot attempt during Duke’s 93-82 victory over Boston College on Saturday afternoon. Jefferson limped to the locker room with about seven minutes left before halftime and did not return to the bench until about 10 minutes remained in the game.

The right foot is the same one Jefferson fractured when he missed Duke’s final 27 games last season and received a medical redshirt afterward. Duke interim coach Jeff Capel told reporters in Durham on Saturday that the extent of the latest injury was not immediately clear.

Jefferson has averaged career highs of 13.8 points and 10.6 rebounds so far this season, yet where Duke misses him most when he’s out is on the defensive end of the floor. He is the Blue Devils’ vocal leader and interior anchor defensively, from holding his ground in the post, to consistently providing timely help defense, to protecting the rim with his shot-blocking ability.

Just like it did last season without Jefferson, Duke struggled on defense in his absence on Saturday. A Boston College team projected to finish near the bottom of the ACC shot 51.6 percent from the field and scored 48 second-half points, cutting a 22-point deficit to six with less than a minute to play.

“It was a big loss for us,” Capel told reporters in Durham. “It hurt us offensively, it hurt us defensively, it hurt us in the huddle. It hurt us everywhere. He’s a really, really important part of what we do.”

While heralded freshman forward Harry Giles continued to make strides offensively in the fifth game of his return from knee surgery, both he and fellow freshman Marques Bolden look lost at times on defense. Giles was out of position frequently on Saturday before fouling out late in the second half, while Bolden picked up four fouls in limited minutes.

Jefferson’s injury is just the latest piece of adversity to hit a Duke team that began the year as the favorite to win the national title but has seldom been at full strength.

Giles, Bolden and fellow McDonald’s All-American Jayson Tatum all suffered preseason injuries that sidelined them in November and hindered their development. Grayson Allen dealt with a lingering toe injury in November and then was suspended for Duke’s loss to Virginia Tech to open ACC play. For the next four weeks, Duke will also be without head coach Mike Krzyzewski, who underwent lower-back surgery on Friday.

It looked like Capel was taking over for Krzyzewski at a good time with Allen back on the floor and Tatum and Giles beginning to tap into their potential. Duke inserted Giles into the starting five on Wednesday, switched to a bigger lineup and played maybe its most complete game of the season, blowing the doors off Georgia Tech 110-57 at Cameron Indoor Stadium.

Now Capel may have some serious tinkering to do depending on Jefferson’s health. Duke’s next game is Tuesday at ACC-leading Florida State, and if Jefferson can’t play, a challenging matchup just got even tougher.

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Jeff Eisenberg is the editor of The Dagger on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at daggerblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!

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