ACC Basketball: 5 biggest questions for rest of 2019-20 season

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - NOVEMBER 21: Javin DeLaurier #12 and Wendell Moore Jr. #0 celebrate with Alex O'Connell #15 of the Duke Blue Devils after his dunk in the second half of their game against the California Golden Bears at Madison Square Garden on November 21, 2019 in New York City. (Photo by Emilee Chinn/Getty Images) /

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DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA – NOVEMBER 12: Matthew Hurt #21 of the Duke Blue Devils (Photo by Grant Halverson/Getty Images) /

3. Outside of Vernon Carey and Tre Jones, who needs to perform at a high level for Duke to win?

Adler

Another great, challenging question! Duke’s roster is really interesting since head coach Mike Krzyzewski is spreading around his minutes with a lot of balance. At this juncture, 10 guys are getting at least 13 minutes of run every game, and only Jones is landing more than 30 minutes per affair. For the Blue Devils to advance to another Elite Eight, or perhaps even further, in the 2020 NCAA Tournament, Duke must get consistency from freshman forward Wendell Moore Jr., in my opinion. He’s presently averaging 6.9 points per contest, along with 3.6 boards and 1.9 assists, while shooting 42.6 percent from the field.

But Moore seems to either generate double-figures in scoring in a given game, or grab just a few points if any at all. Should Moore boost his various per-game averages up a bit, he will provide a critical boost to the Blue Devils’ production load, complementing Jones and Carey, as well as freshmen Cassius Stanley and Matthew Hurt.

Walton

Fellow freshman frontcourt member Matthew Hurt. He has been playing 21.2 minutes per game but that figure is up to 24 minutes per game in four contests since Duke’s loss to Stephen F. Austin. Hurt brings legit floor-spacing ability (40.5% from 3) on volume and will be needed for Duke to have a sustainable 1-2 punch on offense in ACC play.

Hurt is averaging 10.6 PPG on 8.5 field goal attempts per game. If given a larger share of the offense, Hurt can take some pressure off of Tre Jones, who is still trying to take on a large share of the scoring duties for the Blue Devils despite being more of a natural playmaker. Hurt has a higher true shooting %, 3-point attempt rate, and offensive rating than Jones but a lower usage rate. That needs to change for Duke to reach their true ceiling.

Darlington

Matthew Hurt and Wendell Moore need to play at a higher level on a more consistent basis. Outside of the young guys, White, Goldwire, and DeLaurier are a lot of the depth that can make or break this team. Their ability to show up often plays a huge factor in how threatening Duke is in games.

Moore

Outside of Carey and Jones Duke needs all of their freshmen to step it up. They are coming to the point where many teams are finally figuring out the right rotations to use so guys like Matthew Hurt, Stanley, Moore, and Baker need to find their role and get the most of their opportunities. Whether that’s to be a glue guy or a guy who gets 30 minutes Duke needs to get the most out of the rest of their freshman class.