Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski confirmed Thursday the status of two of his players for Friday's NCAA Tournament opener.

Krzyzewski said that center Marques Bolden will play Friday night against North Dakota State, but Jack White will not be able to go. The No. 1 seed Blue Devils (29-5) face No. 16 NDSU (19-15) in Columbia, S.C.

Bolden left the March 9 game at North Carolina with a left knee sprain and didn't return for the game's final 37 minutes. He then missed the entire Atlantic Coast Conference tournament.

After the Tar Heels secured an offensive rebound early in the game, the ball was thrown long where UNC center Garrison Brooks appeared to have a clear path for a dunk. However, Bolden caught up with Brooks cleanly turned away the shot. The Duke center came down awkwardly with his left foot getting pinned against the stanchion while he and Brooks went to the ground.

Bolden immediately grabbed his left leg and was in clear distress before Duke trainer Jose Fonseca arrived to administer treatment. After several minutes Bolden was taken to the locker room.

Bolden, a 6-foot-11, 250-pound junior center from De Soto, Texas, is averaging 5.8 points and 4.7 rebounds per game in 31 games this season and 84 for his career. He was a preseason selection for the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Award watch list going into his sophomore year.

He's a key figure in Duke's potential national title run.

“The biggest thing that concerns me about Duke is the fact they don’t have a guy named Marques Bolden,”ESPN analyst Jay Williams said Tuesday on ESPN’s Get Up! “Now Bolden may come back in the second week of the tournament, but he’s a 6-foot-10 guy that’s very agile and can move his feet on the perimeter. That gives them depth at the low post position. Now what happens when, inevitably it happens in every tournament, a player gets in foul trouble? If Zion Williamson gets in foul trouble, how will Duke be able to handle the load of a type of guy like Tom Izzo’s Michigan State Spartans? They have three or four guys that can pound you down low. You have a guy like Javin DeLaurier, who is the lone player that would need to be the lone presence inside for Duke.”

A 6-foot-7 junior forward from Australia, White has played in 33 games (and 71 in his career) and is averaging 4.4 points and five rebounds per contest. He left the ACC title game March 16 against Florida State game with a hamstring injury.

Friday's game will be the first time the Blue Devils have faced North Dakota State. Duke has only played one team from the Summit League, beating South Dakota by 16 points in December of 2017.

As a program the Bison have played five tournament games all-time and have posted a 2-3 record in those games including their First Four win over North Carolina Central by a 78-74 margin on Wednesday.

Meanwhile this is the 14th time Duke has entered the NCAA Tournament as a No. 1 seed and the Blue Devils have posted a 51-9 record in such games. Four of the program's five national titles has come as a one seed.