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Duke’s Marvin Bagley III out for the fourth straight game with knee injury

Duke v North Carolina

CHAPEL HILL, NC - FEBRUARY 08: Marvin Bagley III #35 of the Duke Blue Devils walks off the court after being defeated by the North Carolina Tar Heels 82-78 at Dean Smith Center on February 8, 2018 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images)

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Duke star freshman big man Marvin Bagley III missed his fourth consecutive game on Wednesday night as he continues to battle a knee injury.

The 6-foot-11 freshman suffered a mild knee sprain in his right knee in Duke’s game against North Carolina on Feb. 8 as he’s missed the Blue Devils’ last four games -- all wins. Bagley missed Duke’s contest against Louisville on Wednesday as he’s also missed games against Georgia Tech, Virginia Tech and Clemson.

Although there have been questions about Bagley’s health, since the topic hasn’t been publicly discussed all that much, Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski addressed the media after the Louisville win.

“It’s a day to day thing. Marvin has a problem or else he would play,” Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski told reporters. “He’s getting better. The thing is, it’s not a structural problem. But if we weren’t concerned about him having more injury, he’d play. He’s not ready. He’s getting closer. I don’t know when it’ll happen. I’m not going to push him.”

Duke still has three regular-season games before the ACC tournament starts as Bagley still has plenty of time to heal and recover before the postseason begins. It doesn’t hurt that the Blue Devils are playing great ball right now, as CBT’s Rob Dauster noted in his column after Wednesday’s game.

Bagley is putting up 21.2 points, 11.4 rebounds and 1.1 blocks per game for Duke this season as he’s a consensus top-five pick in most 2018 NBA mock drafts. Without Bagley in the lineup, Duke has continued to play well and win games as they’ve still had big man Wendell Carter to handle things on the interior. Senior Grayson Allen has also elevated his play as he’s become more aggressive as a scorer over the last four games.