Every week throughout the basketball season, The Blue Zone will name the highest-performing Blue Devil the Duke basketball Player of the Week.
Jabari Parker
Statline: Sunday vs. Vermont: 26 points, 11-for-16 from the field, 3-for-4 from the free throw line and nine rebounds in 36 minutes.
Wednesday vs. Alabama: 27 points, 9-for-12 from the field, 9-for-10 from the free throw line and eight rebounds in 35 minutes.
The good: Mike Krzyzewski is beginning to expect a lot from his star freshman and has given Parker extended playing time as the quality of Duke’s opponents strengthens. Parker has responded—continuing his streak of scoring 20-plus points in each game he has played, dropping 26 and 27 points in this week’s matchups. Parker has also added 17 rebounds over the past two games. He is shooting much better from the stripe as well, converting on 12 of his last 14 free throw attempts, compared to 19-for-28 in his first five games.
The bad: There is no doubt that Parker is main reason why the Blue Devils are averaging 90.0 point per game, good for 13th-best in the nation. But Parker, along with the rest of the team, needs to improve his play on the other end of the court. Duke gave up 90 points to a Vermont team that had previously not scored more than 77 points in a game this season. We have seen flashes of the kind of defense Parker can play, most notably a six-block performance against East Carolina. If Parker can become a defensive force for the Blue Devils, this team will be very difficult to contain.
The bottom line: As expected, Parker is putting on a show offensive, but will need to lead the way defensively if Duke wants to be in national championship contention.
Honorable mention: Guard Quinn Cook played every minute of Wednesday’s game against Alabama and put in 17 points, two assists and four rebounds. He also shot 3-for-4 from beyond and arc. Against Vermont, Cook looked to spread a the ball a bit, accounting for eight assists, but still managed to put up 14 points. Cook is quickly emerging as a solid scoring option when he is not feeding Parker or Duke’s other offensive workhorse, Rodney Hood.
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.