Duke basketball announces individual team awards for 2019-20 season

The Duke basketball team announced its individual awards for the 2019-20 season after COVID-19 caused the remainder of the season to be canceled.

The novel coronavirus has caused many things to change in the sports world, specifically with the Duke basketball program.

Not only were the ACC and NCAA Tournaments canceled, but the Blue Devils were not able to hold their end-of-season banquet in which Mike Krzyzewski and the coaching staff award the players with their individual awards and reflect on the season.

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Since there was no ceremony, the official Duke Men’s Basketball Twitter page released the winners of this year’s awards, and the Swett-Baylin Award Team MVP’s were no surprise, going to sophomore Tre Jones and freshman Vernon Carey Jr.

Jones, who already declared for the 2020 NBA Draft, was named as the ACC Player of the Year and named to various All-American teams after ending his second, and final, season in Durham averaging 16.2 points, 4.2 rebounds, 6.4 assists, and 1.9 steals per game.

Jones was also presented with the Iron Dukes Award, for most minutes played, averaging 35.4 minutes per game, as well as the Most Assists Award, totaling 185 assists.

Carey Jr., who has not officially declared for the 2020 NBA Draft, was named as the ACC Rookie of the Year and the National Freshman of the Year. Like his teammate, Carey Jr. was also named to various All-American teams, and he was the only freshman on a majority of the lists.

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The Florida native presumptively ended his only season in Durham by averaging a team-high 17.8 points and 8.8 rebounds per game to go along with 1.0 assists and 1.6 blocks.

https://twitter.com/DukeMBB/status/1243221194138157058?s=20

Carey Jr. won the Best Field Goal Percentage, with a 57.7 shooting percentage, and the Best Rebound Average Award.

The Blue Devil point guard also shared many awards, starting with the Bill Krzyzewski Captains Award alongside seniors Javin DeLaurier, Jack White, and Justin Robinson.

Jones, the ACC Defensive Player of the Year, and fellow point guard Jordan Goldwire shared the award for Best Defensive Player, and the sophomore split the Best Free Throw Percentage Award with freshman Wendell Moore, as Jones shot 77.1 percent from the charity stripe while Moore was at 80.6 percent.

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Goldwire was also presented with the Pagliuca Family Coach’s Award for Commitment and Values to the Duke Men’s Basketball team.

Jack White won the Dr. Deryl Hart Award, which is given to the Top Scholar-Athlete on the team, as a two-time All-ACC Academic selection, majoring in sociology.

Lastly, but certainly not least, Justin Robinson was awarded with the Glenn E. “Ted” Mann Award, which is given to a player who makes the largest Contribution to Team Morale.

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Robinson, who was mostly a bench player this season, started to come on strong towards the end of the season, giving Duke a much-needed boost entering the postseason.

The focus of the offseason will now turn to the 2020-21 season, seeing which other players leave the program, if any last-minute recruits come in, and how the non-conference schedule will turn out for the Blue Devils.

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