Stock up, stock down from Duke’s championship at the 2K Empire Classic
Vernon Carey Jr.
When you are the MVP of a tournament, your stock clearly goes up.
There was not a single player on the floor that could stop Vernon Carey Jr. in the 2K Empire Classic.
The 6-foot-10 big man was dominant in Duke’s two wins, posting 31 points, 12 rebounds, and four blocks in 22 minutes against Cal and 20 points and ten rebounds against Georgetown.
As the season has developed, it’s very noticeable that Carey Jr. is getting more conformable with the college game and adjusting to the speed. He has put himself in a class with Jahlil Okafor and Marvin Bagley III with his early-season numbers and the freshman is doing it in fewer minutes than his predecessors.
While the haters will say Carey Jr. put up dominant numbers against lesser teams, this weekend shows that his game translates to all competition, even the Power-5 teams.
Vernon Carey Jr. breaks 20-year-old program record. light. Trending
Wendell Moore
Wendell Moore found himself in the New York groove this weekend, playing his best two games as a Duke Blue Devil.
On Thursday night against Cal, the freshman chipped in ten points, seven rebounds, and five assists in just 20 minutes in the blowout win and while the numbers are good, but not great, it was his style of play that jumped off the page.
Moore was aggressive, attacking, and tenacious and it gave fans a glimpse into the player that he could become.
However, Moore reverted back to his old passive playing style int he first half against Georgetown, but Mike Krzyzewski must have had an intense halftime talk because Moore was Uber-aggressive in the second half.
The wing finished the championship game with 17 points, six rebounds, and three assists with the only negative being his seven turnovers.
Like his freshman counterpart Vernon Carey Jr., it took some time for Moore to adjust to the new level of playing the college game but Wendell Moore’s aggression will go a long way to achieving the goals this Blue Devil team has.
Joey Baker
After starting the season on the ‘Stock Down’ list, Joey Baker has found a way to make it to the ‘Stock Up’ list in the past few games.
It seems as Baker has officially cracked the rotation for Mike Krzyzewski and while his numbers won’t stand out from the 2K Empire Classic, the sophomore provided crucial minutes in the win over California.
With the Blue Devils struggling on offense against Georgetown, Baker light a fire under Duke with two big shots that got the Blue Devils back into the game.
After trailing by 11 in the first half, Vernon Carey Jr. was able to bring Duke to within nine, and on the following possession, Joey Baker nails a jumper to bring the Blue Devils to within seven.
Later in that half, the sophomore hits a bring 3-pointer to cut the Hoyas lead to two as the Blue Devils entered halftime tied at 33.
Over the weekend, Baker played 24 minutes and totaled 11 points on 4-of-7 shooting, 3-of-5 from 3-point range.
Joey Baker isn’t at the point of his Duke career where he is ready to contribute big minutes, but if he can be an energy guy off the bench to hit 3-pointers and play consistent defense, fans will be seeing more of No. 13 this season.