Duke basketball has All-American candidate emerge in latest victory

The Duke basketball team has another All-American on its hands. 

Paolo Banchero is the player on the Duke basketball team with the highest ceiling. He might even be the team’s best player. However, it is clear that the most important player on the squad is Wendell Moore.

Moore was able to jumpstart a sluggish Duke (9-1) team on Thursday night against Appalachian State (6-6), winning 92-67.

The junior forward finished with a team-high 21 points, five rebounds, and six assists on 8-of-11 shooting from the field and a perfect 4-of-4 from 3-point range.

Wendell Moore is now averaging 17.4 points, 5.9 rebounds, and 5.1 assists per game on 58.3-percent shooting from the floor and 40.0-percent from 3-point range.

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As a team, the Blue Devils shot 50.0-percent from deep (15-of-30), and it was the second time in program history that Duke made 15 or more 3-pointers in consecutive games after the team also made 15 triples in a victory over South Carolina State on Tuesday night.

Joey Baker and AJ Griffin provided another lift off the bench with eight and 11 points, respectively, while four players in the starting five were able to reach double figures, including 16 points from Banchero.

Duke basketball head coach thinks he has another All-American on his roster

Paolo Banchero seems destined to be named as an All-American in March, but head coach Mike Krzyzewski thinks another player on his team should have that distinction as well.

Following the victory, Krzyzewski told the assembled media that Wendell Moore is playing at an All-American level, and it is hard to disagree with him at the moment.

“He’s been our stud… He’s doing that on offense, and he’s also doing it on defense. He’s having, right now, an All-American year.”

Moore came into Durham as a four-star prospect and showed flashes of his potential as a freshman but had an overall disappointing sophomore campaign.

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“He’s played as well as anybody, and he’s been a leader,” Krzyzewski added.

“He’s a really good athlete right now; he was just an average athlete his first two years. With all the work he did in April and May, he completely changed his athletic ability.”

Wendell Moore and the rest of the Blue Devils will head into their final game of the non-conference schedule on Saturday afternoon in Durham against Elon before hosting Virginia Tech on Wednesday night in the ACC opener.