Duke Basketball: 3 takeaways from disappointing loss at Louisville

1. One of Duke’s biggest issues this season has been inconsistency – and that plagued the Blue Devils against Louisville

There is no mystery as to who the best player on Duke’s roster is.  Sophomore Matthew Hurt has dramatically improved his game from his freshman campaign, and he has led the Blue Devils in numerous statistical categories – percentage of minutes, offensive rating, percentage of shots, offensive rebounding percentage, and defensive rebounding percentage, to name a handful.

Hurt has led the team in scoring and rebounding this season, with marks of 19.4 ppg and 8.2 rpg.  He was unconscious against the Cardinals, going 9-13 from the floor with a 4-5 clip from outside the arc.  No player in the game – not even Louisville’s Carlik Jones – owned an efficiency as good as Hurt.

That is obviously stellar – but the issue is that that is all Duke has, at least on a consistent basis.  Hurt has reached double-figures in all 10 of Duke’s games and has been their main source of offense.  Understandably so – he is shooting clips of 57.0% (2PT) and 47.3% (3PT) – but if Duke’s opening 10 games have proven anything, it is that he cannot do it all alone.

He hasn’t done it alone, necessarily – six other Blue Devils have reached double-digits this season, all reaching that point at least three times.  The issue is that Duke is getting these performances on an inconsistent basis.  No greater example can be given than the Duke’s back-to-back games at Pittsburgh and Louisville.

Against the Panthers, the Blue Devils had four different players reach double-figures.  Jalen Johnson led the way with 24 points, Wendell Moore had 15, Hurt tallied 13, and Jeremy Roach scored 11.  Only two other Duke players scored, with DJ Steward and Jordan Goldwire recording six and four points, respectively.

But of those four double-digit scorers, only Hurt matched that mark against the Cardinals.  Moore and Johnson both provided nine apiece, while Roach did not score at all.  Steward, meanwhile, improved upon his performance, reaching double-digits for the seventh time this season – the best mark behind Hurt.

There is no telling what performance the Blue Devils will get out of their players – and that might be the worst standard for a team to have.  It can be expected for Hurt to provide every night because he has proven that – but he cannot be the only one.  If Duke hopes to win, they desperately, above all, need another go-to player who can provide – especially in situations where Hurt is out due to foul trouble, which was the case in the closing moments of the Louisville game.