Duke Clinches ACC Title, Injured Players Cheer from Bench

0:00It's March 15th in Durham, let's get into the news. Duke clinched the ACC Championship with a 74-70 win over Virginia on Saturday night at Charlotte's Spectrum Center. The number one seeded Blue Devils celebrated as injured players. Kayla Foster and Patrick Gongbaugh, cheer from the bench in matching black hoodies and boots on their right feet. Coach John Shire gave updates on both ahead of the NCAA tournament. Another underwent surgery for a broken right foot after getting hurt in the first half against North Carolina on March 7th. Shire said it's unlikely the junior point guard returns before the final four. Gongbaugh has been dealing with foot sorenessence early this month and set out the regular season finale against the tar heels, even though he was a game time decision. Both players have stayed engaged, scooting around the arena and joining team huddles. Shire praised their hard work, noting Foster shoots every day despite his injury and in Gongbaugh pushes through therapy benchmarks.

1:00The team clearly played with them in mind during the title game. Kate and Boos are stepped up big in Foster's absence, dropping a career high 16 points in both the semi-finals and championship. Associate head coach Chris Kerwell called it the IT Factor, showing Duke has options moving forward despite the injuries. The men's NCAA tournament bracket drops at 6 p.m. Sunday with Duke projected as the top overall seed starting play March 19th in Greenville, South Carolina. The daily news now is grateful to our sponsor for today's episode. Comfort you can hear. Sound you can relax into. S-O-L-I, solely pillow.com.