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There were a couple of big developments in the college basketball world on Wednesday night. Obviously, the first and most pressing being the injury to Zion Williamson. The Duke star only got to play about 30 seconds of his first matchup with North Carolina before exiting due to injury.
Williamson’s shoe exploded on the first possession of the game in one of the weirdest moments you’ll see on a basketball floor.
Here’s the knee injury that ended Zion Williamson’s night.... pic.twitter.com/2gkKTq7gTl
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) February 21, 2019
Zion missed the rest of the game as the Blue Devils were crushed on the road by North Carolina. Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski described the injury as a “mild knee sprain” after the game, but didn’t offer a time table for a return.
No. 1 Duke could never catch up to the Tar Heels after Roy Williams’ group built a ten point lead before halftime. It will be fascinating to see how far Duke falls in the polls. We’ll monitor the Williamson situation closely as it will obviously play a huge factor in Duke’s title hopes.
LSU Stumbles
As No. 5 Tennessee waits to play at No. 13 LSU on Saturday, the Tigers dropped their lead-up game in overtime to the Florida Gators. The Gators, who now sit at 15-11, badly needed that road win to bolster their NCAA Tournament hopes.
For LSU, it was a pretty ugly loss considering what they did to Kentucky on the road last week. It’s clear that some sort of ‘Kentucky hangover’ is a real thing as the Tigers struggled with a bad Georgia team on the road Saturday too.
LSU was tied for the lead in the SEC with Tennessee heading into Saturday’s matchup, but now trail the Vols by a game. They’ll have a chance to climb back to even on Saturday at noon, but they’ve also brought a hot Kentucky team one step closer to the top spot as well.
Tennessee controls their own destiny in the SEC regular season race, but they’ll have to earn it starting on Saturday. After LSU, Tennessee will face Ole Miss, Kentucky, Mississippi State, Auburn to close the year.