Can Gary Trent Jr. stretch the floor?
After pointing out in my five questions for Duke’s game against South Dakota that Gary Trent’s inability to hit three-pointers is killing the Blue Devils, he responded by going just one of three from three-point range – which is actually an improvement on his season-long three-point shooting percentage – and three of ten overall for just seven points. The more concerning aspect of this for Duke is that he did all of this in just 24 minutes. How many possessions would he have wasted if he had played more minutes?
Don’t get me wrong. Grayson Allen and Marvin Bagley run this offense. Any other scoring is just icing on top of the cake, and Trent is a freshman, so it is only natural that it takes him a while to get used to the college game – especially when he is the third or fourth option on the court.
However, we have already seen this season where his inconsistency kills the Blue Devils in games against top opponents and, if he doesn’t start to get it going soon, a 3-10 performance could wind up being what causes the Blue Devils to lose their first game of the season.
That being said, St. Francis is yet another opportunity to let Trent gain some confidence and see the ball go through the net. Hopefully, he bounces back, and I’m not repeating this same point heading into the next game.