Stock Up, Down: Duke basketball has room for improvement after Pitt win

Alex O’Connell, Javin DeLaurier, and Joey Baker

The ‘Stock Down’ list gets clumped together after Tuesday’s game and it contains all of the bench players with the exception of Jack White.

We just highlighted the play of White in the ‘Stock Up’ section and that was made more substantial with how poorly the remainder of the bench played.

Duke is still without Wendell Moore, who did participate in warmups, but is in the final stages of recovering from a broken hand on January 4.

However, Alex O’Connell, Javin DeLaurier, and Joey Baker combined to play 15 minutes and scored just two points on 1-of-7 shooting from the field.

Baker did take six of those shots and made the lone field goal of the group, but if you had to pick one to feel confident about going forward, it would be the sophomore who plays with a high-energy and effort level.

DeLaurier and O’Connell virtually did nothing with their time on the court.

The senior captain played just four minutes and the only impact he had on the final box score was picking up a foul while O’Connell’s lone mark on the game was a missed field goal attempt, that could have been a highlight dunk.

Mike Krzyzewski’s hand is practically forced by playing DeLaurier in short spurts to try and give Vernon Carey Jr. some rest but the Hall of Fame coach is starting to give Jack White minutes at center to buy some time for the freshman.

However, once More returns it could mean the end of any significant minutes of O’Connell, who had the potential to be a lethal 3-point shooter for Duke coming off the bench this season.