Duke basketball still lacking consistency to win games

Duke basketball forward Wendell Moore (Rob Kinnan-USA TODAY Sports)
Duke basketball forward Wendell Moore (Rob Kinnan-USA TODAY Sports) /
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Duke basketball forward Matthew Hurt (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images) /

Duke basketball players who improved their stock against Virginia Tech

Matthew Hurt

It’s a daily occurrence that Matthew Hurt earns himself a spot on the ‘Stock Up’ following each game this season.

Hurt almost single-handedly willed the Blue Devils back into the game in the second half and led Duke to a victory. But for whatever reason, he didn’t get the ball nearly as much as he should have down the stretch.

The Minnesota native posted yet another double-double with 20 points and 11 rebounds on 8-of-16 shooting and 4-of-8 from 3-point territory to go along with two blocks and a steal.

Despite his defensive issues, Hurt has established himself as the best, most potent, and most efficient offensive player on this team and needs to be on the floor for virtually the entire 40 minutes.

Jeremy Roach

Aside from Hurt, Jeremy Roach was the only other player who remotely came close to anything productive on the offensive end.

And that’s not a knock on the freshman point guard, rather an indictment on the rest of the team.

Roach continues to improve each time he steps on the floor, and he led Duke against Virginia Tech with 22 points, two rebounds, and an assist while still playing 34 minutes despite battling foul trouble.

Outside shooting still troubles Jeremy Roach in his young career, but there’s no debating his explosiveness in getting to the basket off the dribble.

Another positive offensive sign for a team that has a lot of struggling players in that aspect of the game.

Joey Baker

Trying to find a third player for ‘Stock Up’ was pretty difficult.

DJ Steward put up 14 points, but his second-half struggles really hurt the Blue Devils, and 5-of-13 shooting is nothing to boast about.

So, we went with Joey Baker, solely with the reasoning that he look like he wanted to be out there.

Baker didn’t score. In fact, he didn’t even attempt a shot. But he showed effort and was diving on the floor and added two rebounds, one assist, and three blocks to his stat line.

Clearly, there wasn’t a high bar to make the ‘Stock Up’ column following this game.