No. 3 Duke needs its depth and it should be closer to intact for No. 11 Louisville
Accustomed to rotating 10 players to keep fresh bodies on the court, Mike Krzyzewski saw that number reduced by 20 percent this week.
That loss proved too much for No. 3 Duke to overcome when, with 6-6 freshman Wendell Moore and 6-7 sophomore Joey Baker out with injuries, the Blue Devils suffered a 79-72 loss at Clemson on Tuesday night.
Moore still isn’t ready to play after having surgery to repair a broken bone in his right hand on Jan. 6. But Duke expects Baker to be in uniform and ready to play against No. 11 Louisville on Saturday (6 p.m., ESPN).
Baker returned to practice on Thursday and, barring any setbacks, is on track to play against the Cardinals (14-3, 5-1 ACC) in an early season battle to retain a share of the ACC lead.
Duke (15-2, 5-1 ACC) won its first two games without Moore, beating Georgia Tech, 73-64, and Wake Forest, 90-59.
In those games, 6-2 junior guard Jordan Goldwire moved into the starting lineup, playing 37 minutes at Georgia Tech and 30 more against Wake Forest. Starting point guard Tre Jones played 39 and 27 minutes over those two games as Moore was unavailable to spell those two players.
Baker suffered a sprained right ankle in practice earlier this week, causing him to wear a protective boot while sitting on the bench at Clemson.
Jones played 36 minutes against the Tigers while Goldwire played 35.
“It would have been nice if we could have knocked off a few minutes,” Krzyzewski said.
Freshman wing Cassius Stanley’s four fouls limited him to 29 minutes, further complicating Krzyzewski’s substitution plans.
“One of the reasons we’ve been good is that we had depth, but we have two kids out right now on the perimeter,” Krzyzewski said Tuesday night at Clemson. “I saw it a little bit in the last game and tonight you definitely saw that we are not as good without that depth.”
Duke had all 10 of the players it normally uses available for ACC wins over Boston College and Miami on Dec. 31 and Jan. 4. No one played more than 27 minutes as Duke won 88-49 over the Eagles and 95-62 at Miami.
“It’s pretty simple, really,” Krzyzewski said. “We’ve been playing 9-10 guys and we’ve been fresh and together and playing hard. When you add the number of minutes you can lose some possessions and those are possessions with depth that maybe you win.”
When Moore was healthy, he played in Duke’s first 14 games with five starts. He took minutes at point guard or at small forward.
Baker started at Georgia Tech, but only played four minutes as he committed a turnover and foul early and the staff decided he wasn’t ready to handle extended minutes against Georgia Tech’s athletic backcourt.
Baker scored 11 points in 17 turnover-free minutes against Wake Forest.
Krzyzewski likes to pair Goldwire and Jones in the backcourt for defensive purposes. Had Baker been available at Clemson, Krzyzewski would have used him to spell either Goldwire or Jones since either of them could play point with Baker at shooting guard.
So look for him to mix in Baker, along with 6-5 junior guard Alex O’Connell, against Louisville as Duke looks to counter the Cardinals’ backcourt of 6-0 senior Lamarr Kimble, 6-5 senior Dwayne Sutton and and 6-0 senior Ryan McMahon.
Baker’s 3-point shooting ability (20 of 46, 43.5 percent) gives Duke scoring punch from the perimeter.
Moore contributed 7.4 points and 3.9 rebounds, plus he helped greatly on defense against any of the three perimeter positions.
With his broken fourth metacarpal bone still healing,no timetable has been firmed up for his return.
But having Baker back available for Louisville gets Duke closer to whole once again.
This story was originally published January 17, 2020 at 10:48 AM.