Despite getting out to a 10-0 start and establishing itself as a true national championship contender, the Duke basketball program has certainly had its struggles on offense, aside from National Player of the Year frontrunner Cam Boozer. The Blue Devils are still in search of consistent scoring threats outside of Boozer, and although the team's second option has to end up being Isaiah Evans, there's still a lot of uncertainty as to which guys will have the ball in their hands often as the season moves along.
However, 5-star Duke rookie Nik Khamenia's recent performance against Michigan State may have just cemented him as the starting small forward from here on out. Throughout the preseason, it felt like Khamenia and fellow 5-star freshman Dame Sarr were battling for the starting three role. Through the first eight games of the season, Sarr was the starter. Then Jon Scheyer switched things around, throwing Khamenia into the starting lineup over the team's last couple of games, and Khamenia's recent outing showed promising signs.
Nik Khamenia may be moving ahead of Dame Sarr as Duke basketball's starting small forward
Both Khamenia and Sarr have dealt with offensive struggles throughout the early part of their rookie campaigns. The two wings showed flashes at times, but were fairly inefficient. However, over Duke's last five games, Khamenia has been impressive.
After shooting 35.7% on 14 attempts from three through the Blue Devils' first five games, Khamenia is shooting 50% on 16 attempts across the team's latest five contests. Additionally, against the Spartans, his second start in a row, Khamenia tallied 10 points and nine rebounds on 3-of-7 (42.9%) shooting from the field and 3-of-6 (50%) shooting from three. Sarr hasn't totaled double-digit scoring in any of Duke's five matchups against high-major opponents.
Both Sarr and Khamenia fill 3-and-D roles with how this roster is constructed, and since both are elite defenders, it's whoever can make outside shots more consistently that will play more minutes. As of late, it's been Khamenia.
Now, coming over from FC Barcelona, Sarr is still getting acclimated to the college game. He's still an elite talent who will grow with each contest that comes, but a role coming off the bench may allow Sarr to ease into the game more easily without getting sped up.
Scheyer still has lots of time to fiddle with his lineups and figure out what works best, but as of now, it seems like Khamenia will remain the full-time starting small forward.