Duke looking for offensive continuity in final tune-up before regular season

The Duke Basketball team will be looking for some offensive consistency and continuity when the Blue Devils tip-off in its final exhibition game of the preseason.

One last exhibition game before things count for the Duke Blue Devils and on Wednesday night in Cameron Indoor Stadium the opponent will be the Fort Valley State University Wildcats.

Duke was last in action on Saturday night against Northwest Missouri State and while the Blue Devils defense looked excellent, with the exception of the last few minutes, the offense was very inconsistent.

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After the game players were disappointed in their performance and maybe chalk it up to nerves, but now the nerves are gone, the rust is gone from not playing an opponent in a long time, it’s time to show what you have.

For the past two seasons, shooting has been an issue with the Blue Devils as the team as thrived in the paint with players like Marvin Bagley III, Wendell Carter Jr., and Zion Williamson, but this year the go-to-man on offense is still a question mark.

In the Countdown to Craziness scrimmage Vernon Carey Jr. looked like a man among boys, but struggled on Saturday night.

Matthew Hurt flashed some of his offensive potential on Saturday, but the freshman has to be more consistent, and Tre Jones is the ultimate leader on the floor, but has struggled with his shooting percentage dating back to his freshman season.

It’s silly to try and overreact to an exhibition game, but only a six point win over a Division II team, albeit the National Champions, is a little alarming considering Duke won its two exhibition games by a combined 126 points last season.

Will a shooter emerge from the bench or the starting lineup? Will Joey Baker get some extended minutes or has Justin Robinson really surpassed him in the rotation?

There are questions to be answered with less than a week to go until the State Farm Champions Classic on November 5 against the No. 3 Kansas Jayhawks at Madison Square Garden.

Duke will look to answer some of those questions on Wednesday night against Fort Valley State University at 7:00pm EST as the game can be seen on the ACC Network Extra, via Watch ESPN or the ESPN App.

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