Foster’s ankle injury tests Duke’s depth before its exhibition opener

Caleb Foster is out with an ankle injury, Duke coach Jon Scheyer said Wednesday at ACC Tipoff, describing an absence he expects to be short. Duke's Thursday exhibition against Belmont will begin without its veteran guard, according to independent reporting on Scheyer's comments.

Scheyer said in the ACC Digital Network press conference that Duke's depth was already being tested. Foster's injury was one example; he also said Drew Scharnowski was out for the time being and that other players had missed practice with illness or smaller injuries.

Anna Snyder's on-site report for the Fayetteville Observer identifies Scharnowski's issue as a knee injury. It also records Scheyer's expectation that Foster would be back for the team's first game. That is the coach's outlook, rather than a newly announced clearance or a fixed return date.

Thursday creates an early look at how Duke handles those absences. Duke Basketball Report's Julian King reports that Foster will miss Belmont and points to Cayden Boozer and Deron Rippey as players who could receive more opportunity. Availability for later exhibitions remains a separate question.

Scheyer's broader comments explain why the preseason combinations matter. He said even the returners, including Patrick Ngongba II and Dame Sarr, were still developing, and that a lineup's success last season did not guarantee it would function the same way this year. He described the team as an evolving group whose coach still had to learn how its pieces fit.

That gives Thursday two purposes: competing against an outside opponent and testing the available roster while Foster is sidelined. Scheyer's remarks support an expectation of a short absence. They do not settle which later exhibition he will play or how many minutes any replacement will receive.