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Duke Basketball: Takeaways from Blue Devils gritty win over Georgia Tech

By Michael Walton

DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA - DECEMBER 31: The Duke Blue Devils bench reacts after a three-point shot by Wendell Moore Jr. #0 of the Duke Blue Devils during the second half of their game against the Boston College Eaglesat Cameron Indoor Stadium on December 31, 2019 in Durham, North Carolina. Duke won 88-49. (Photo by Grant Halverson/Getty Images)
DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA - DECEMBER 31: The Duke Blue Devils bench reacts after a three-point shot by Wendell Moore Jr. #0 of the Duke Blue Devils during the second half of their game against the Boston College Eaglesat Cameron Indoor Stadium on December 31, 2019 in Durham, North Carolina. Duke won 88-49. (Photo by Grant Halverson/Getty Images) /
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NEW YORK, NEW YORK – NOVEMBER 05: Cassius Stanley #2 of the Duke Blue Devils (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – NOVEMBER 05: Cassius Stanley #2 of the Duke Blue Devils (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images) /

1. Cassius Stanley is officially ‘back’

Freshman guard Cassius Stanley is generally regarded as one of the bigger X factors on this year’s Duke basketball team. Vernon Carey Jr. may be the alpha in terms of touches but it is Stanley’s ridiculous displays of athleticism that really get Duke fired up.

https://twitter.com/theACCDN/status/1215123435233390592

Stanley played 27 minutes in Wednesday night’s win, the most Coach K has played him in a game since his accelerated (by Stanley) return on December 6. With fellow freshman Wendell Moore now out indefinitely with a broken hand, there will be more opportunity for Stanley to operate with the ball in his hands on the wing. At this stage of his career, Stanley doesn’t have the ability to beat a defender off the dribble routinely but his strength allows him to finish through contact.

While it is nice to see Stanley shooting well from deep—and he is at 42.9% from 3-point range on 2.0 attempts per game—he is at his best when he is attacking the paint off of cuts, screens, straight-line drives and, of course, in transition.

Per Hoop-Math.com, he is shooting 56.9% at the rim, with a whopping 51.5% of his attempts coming at the rim. Stanley missed his only 3-point attempt on Wednesday and was still a problem for Georgia Tech’s wing defenders. He bullied the Yellow Jackets’ guards in the paint on his way to 14 points, 3 rebounds, and a block.

Despite a great season so far, Stanley has failed to register a big-time scoring performance at Cameron Indoor. Fresh off of two double-digit scoring efforts, Saturday’s showdown with Wake Forest could be the night Stanley breaks out in front of the Cameron Crazies.

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