Best left-handed Duke basketball players of the past decade

The best Duke basketball lefties of the past decade: Luke Kennard

Coming in at No. 5 is one of the smoothest players to ever come through Durham. Luke Kennard is also one of the most unique players to have put on the Duke basketball jersey. Kennard was lefthanded by nature but was fully capable of shooting and scoring with his right hand. He had a beautiful form and an extremely quick release that made him such a difficult cover.

As a freshman, Luke Kennard played a lot of minutes and hit some big shots for Duke. He showed flashes of being a deadly outside shooter and a No. 1 scoring option. It wasn’t hard to see the potential in Kennard as a lead scorer, but the consistency was never really there. He averaged close to 12 points per game and other than Grayson Allen and Brandon Ingram, was Duke’s best scoring option.

Kennard seemed promising, but it was clear that he needed another year of college. The jump that he took from his freshman to sophomore year was one of the most impressive I have seen. Kennard elevated himself from a shaky third scoring option to a top scoring option and one of the best players in the ACC.

From his freshman to sophomore season, Kennard went from playing roughly 26 minutes per game to nearly 36 minutes. A Jayson Tatum preseason injury opened up the door for Kennard and allowed him to take on a bigger scoring role and have more opportunities with the ball in his hands. Kennard certainly took advantage, going from an overall 42 percent shooter, including 32 percent from 3-point land, to shooting nearly 49 percent overall and 44 percent from three.

Throughout the 2016-17 season, Kennard was really the only guy who provided consistent scoring production. At times, it was Luke Kennard or nothing on offense. Right from the beginning of the season, Kennard made his presence felt. He dropped 24 points on Rhode Island en route to winning the MVP of The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall-of-Fame Tip-off.

Kennard carried that momentum with him for the rest of the season. He seemed to play his best basketball in Duke’s biggest games. As a team, Duke struggled with injuries and finding consistency on both ends throughout the entire 2016-17 season. Kennard was really the only guy to put up big offensive numbers night in and night out.

He finished in the top 10 in the ACC in points per game, field goal percentage, 3-point field goals, and player efficiency rating. Kennard also led the ACC in both minutes played and offensive rating.

Kennard was also responsible for one of the greatest single-game performances in Duke basketball history. Kennard scored 34 points while shooting a ridiculous 79 percent from the field, including 100 percent from three (6-for-6). To top it off, Kennard drilled a game-winning 3-pointer with just a couple of seconds left to beat Wake Forest and pull off a miraculous comeback victory.

Kennard was not able to win a national championship during his two seasons with the Blue Devils but certainly left his mark as one of the top lefthanded players in program history.

Following his freshman season, Kennard was not on any draft boards. He did not look like a guy who could be a first-round pick. But that all changed after his sophomore year. The year did not end as anyone wanted it to, but what Kennard did during the 2016-17 season will go down as one of the best single seasons in Duke basketball history.

At the end of the 2016-17 season, Kennard was a unanimous first-team All-ACC selection and a finalist for ACC Player of the Year. He also helped the Blue Devils go on an incredible run in the ACC Tournament, winning four games in four days. Kennard was recognized as the 2017 ACC Tournament MVP.