Greg Paulus only played 11 minutes in Duke's 82-79 win over Rhode Island Sunday, which qualifies as his career low. His limited playing time, however, had nothing to do with his competition, starting point guard Nolan Smith. It had to do with another rival: injuries.
Paulus took a charge in practice Friday and his right arm immediately swelled up to the point that he could not wiggle his fingers. He iced for a night, was able to close his hand partially Saturday and took part in the shootaround Sunday before he was deemed ready to play.
Paulus wore a padded sleeve on his right arm throughout the game.
"That kid played with a lot of guts today because, really, he could not [make a fist] less than 40 hours ago," head coach Mike Krzyzewski said. "And he still wanted to play. I would have used him more with Nolan. I just felt that he was going on guts."
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.