After having the start to his freshman campaign delayed due to a stress fracture in his right leg Marquette freshman guard Duane Wilson returned to practice in mid-December, with the hope being that he could possibly help the Golden Eagles in Big East play. A consensus Top 100 recruit, Wilson has the ability as both a scorer and distributor to give Marquette more versatility at the point guard position.
Unfortunately for Wilson and the Golden Eagles, the leg issue has resulted in the program deciding that the best course of action would be for him to redshirt this season. Marquette announced the news via its Twitter account on Friday morning.
#mubb guard Duane Wilson to redshirt in 2013-14. Freshman yet to play for MU after preseason leg injury.
— Marquette Basketball (@MarquetteMBB) December 27, 2013
As a senior at Dominican HS in Milwaukee, Wilson averaged 23.8 points, 4.7 assists and 4.5 rebounds per game. With Duane now ruled out, starter Derrick Wilson (no relation) becomes even more important at the point. And according to Mark Strotman of Paint Touches, he’ll need to make some strides if the Golden Eagles are to improve offensively when Big East play begins.
Marquette plays its final non-conference game on Saturday when Samford visits Milwaukee. The rotation won’t experience much of a shakeup based upon the fact that Duane Wilson had yet to play a game, but not having him available has impacted the way in which Marquette attacks teams on the offensive end of the floor.