Duke basketball defensive centerpiece Maliq Brown will be active tonight for the 1-seed Blue Devils' date with 4-seed Arizona tonight in the Sweet Sixteen. The game will tip off at the end of 2-seed Alabama and 6-seed BYU at 9:39pm ET.

Brown has been out with a dislocated shoulder he sustained in Duke's 78-70 ACC Tournament quarterfinals victory over Georgia Tech.

This is huge news for the Blue Devils to get the elite defender back for a massive game against the Wildcats. Duke has a chance to advance to the NCAA Tournament Elite Eight for a second straight season, and the Blue Devils getting their big man back in a big time moment will pay huge dividends for the Blue Devils on the defensive end of the floor tonight.

This was the second time this season that Brown suffered a dislocated shoulder, and there was lots of worry that Brown would not return for any of the postseason. Getting any minutes out of the 6' 9", 220-pound forward will be a large boost on the defensive end for this Blue Devils squad that is going up against a really good offensive club in Arizona.

Duke head coach Jon Scheyer said earlier this week that there was a chance that Brown would return for the Sweet Sixteen, and now it's official that Brown will be active tonight.

"It's day-to-day with Maliq, and there's a chance he could be available tomorrow night," Scheyer said during his media availability ahead of the Arizona matchup on Wednesday.

Freshman big Patrick Ngongba II has given this Duke team really solid minutes in an elevated role with Brown's absense, so it's expected that Ngongba will still play a decent amount with this being Brown's first games back in quite some time.

In Brown's last full game against North Carolina in the regular season finale on March 8th, the junior forward tallied eight points, three rebounds, and three assists in the Blue Devils' 82-69 victory over the Heels in Chapel Hill.

The former Syracuse player is averaging 2.6 points, 3.9 rebounds, and 1.6 assists this season for the Duke basketball team, but his elite defensive versatility and ability to switch one through five makes him one of the most valuable defensive pieces Jon Scheyer's club has.