FRESHMAN superstar Zion Williamson suffered an injury due to a busted shoe.
The Duke Blue Devil’s Zion Williamson suffered a right knee injury after his shoe – one of Nike’s Paul George signature shoe – busted wide open in an attempt to drive the basket. This incident made the No. 1 Blue Devils lose to the visiting No. 8 rival, the University of North Carolina Tar Heels with the score of 88-72.
Williamson was posting up UNC player when he busted his shoe and awkwardly sprawled on the floor with just 34 seconds into the game. In the ensuing possession, the Tar Heels were able to score the basket yet Williamson remained sprawled in the floor, griping his right knee. The medical staff quickly took action and Williamson was sent to the locker room where he would watch the entirety of the game that night.
With that incident, the Blue Devils and the home crowd were shut silent and the Tar Heels cruised their way over the stunned Blue Devils. Even though the Blue Devils managed to make it into a 5-point differential at halftime, it still wasn’t enough to stop the Tar Heels which were on a roll that night.
Tar Heels forward Luke Maye led the visiting team with one of his strongest games in his college basketball career with 30 points and 15 rebounds. Cam Johnson also added 26 points to the lead while Coby White and Nasir Little combined for 11 points.
The Blue Devils relied on their other superstars, Canadian RJ Barrett who scored 33 and Cam Reddish who scored 27. Despite these huge stats, no other Blue Devil player managed to score more than six points in this game – showing how Williamson is a huge positive impact to the team.
After the game, coach for Blue Devils Mike Krzyzewski addressed the media that Williamson suffered only a “mild knee sprain.”
“The knee is stable. We don’t know how long he’ll be out”, he said.
UNC coach Roy Williams also stated how Williamson is a critical part of Duke’s offense and how his injury brought a negative impact on the team.
“When the big fella goes out of the game, it changes a lot of stuff for them. Zion Williamson, I’ve never seen anything like him. It was a huge blow for them, and having that happen during the course of a game, you don’t have time to prepare for it. I hated that part of it because I think he’s such a wonderful kid. That was a huge blow for them and at that time, there was no question.” (Jayvee Gulfan, USC intern)