Duke's Marvin Bagley III ruled out for game against No. 11 Clemson

The Duke Blue Devils will be without Player of the Year candidate Marvin Bagley III for their game against No. 11 Clemson on Sunday afternoon.

The 6-11 freshman from Phoenix, Arizona will miss his third consecutive game due to a "mild right knee sprain." The Blue Devils are 2-0 in games without Bagley on the court and have won those games by an average of 16.5 points.

Bagley is averaging 21.2 points and 11.4 rebounds per game for the Blue Devils and has been their number one option on offense. His presence inside would have been tough to overcome for the Tigers.

This is good news for Clemson, which will most likely be without starting point guard Shelton Mitchell due to a concussion. But the Tigers will still have to manage Wendell Carter Jr. inside despite Bagley's absence.

Carter Jr. has stepped in nicely for the Blue Devils as a freshman and is averaging 16 points in the last two contests. Elijah Thomas, David Skara, and Aamir Simms will still have plenty of work to do inside against Duke's size and length.

"We’ll prepare like he’s playing but they don’t run a different offense when he’s in the game and things of that nature," Brad Brownell said Friday. "There are so many things to worry about when you play those guys. They've got pros down low that can score, they've got guys that make threes, they beat you off the dribble, you just try to defend as best you can and make them make tough shots ... that’ll happen on Sunday."

No. 11 Clemson hosts No. 12 Duke at 1:00 PM Sunday afternoon.