Stock up, stock down from Duke’s bounce-back win over Winthrop

Alex O’Connell

Alex O’Connell has been surpassed in the rotation by Joey Baker, but with the injury to Cassius Stanley, O’Connell will be relied upon to play important minutes.

On Friday night, O’Connell came off the bench and only played six minutes, scoring one point and grabbing two rebounds.

With Matthew Hurt and Joey Baker emerging as consistent threats from 3-point range, O’Connell has to get back in his groove offensively, while finding a defensive edge in order to get back on the court.

Wendell Moore

It appeared as if Wendell Moore turned a corner in the second half in the victory over the Georgetown Hoyas, but it seems that those 20 minutes of basketball was just an aberration for the freshman.

Moore was aggressive and attacking against the Hoyas but since returning to Durham for Duke’s last two games, Moore has reverted to his passive nature.

Against Winthrop, Moore remained in the starting lineup but failed to score a point in 19 minutes of action, missing both of his attempts from the field.

The North Carolina native did register a rebound and an assist in the win.

Duke looked to be turning a corner offensively in the second half of the championship game of the 2K Empire Classic and that was due to the play of Wendell Moore. With Duke struggling, the Blue Devils need Moore to re-establish himself as the year moves on and games become more important.

Cassius Stanley

Cassius Stanley finds himself on the ‘Stock Down’ list by none of his own doing.

Mike Krzyzewski said that the freshman will be sidelined for a few weeks with Christmas seeming like a realistic target date.

Stanley suffered a hamstring injury early in the second half against Winthrop and did not return after accumulating four points, one rebound, and three assists on 2-of-7 shooting.

On the season Stanley is averaging 12.9 points and 4.8 rebounds per game on 50.0% shooting from the floor and 47.4% from 3-point range.

It’s never good to sustain an injury, but maybe Cassius Stanley can use this time as a learning tool to take a step back and look at the game from a new perspective, similar to a young quarterback in the National Football League.

Cassius Stanley has been outstanding this season but if some time off can help him become even better, it could provide dividends when the Los Angeles native is back on the floor in March with this young Duke team.