The Duke Blue Devils have lost one of their key rotation players Wendell Moore “for a while” after he underwent surgery for a broken bone in his right hand. Head Coach Mike Krzyzewski made the announcement about the surgery on Monday. It is unclear how much time Moore will miss, but the assumption is he returns this season. He will not travel with the team on Wednesday to Georgia Tech.
NEWS: Freshman Wendell Moore will have surgery today to repair a broken bone in his right hand.
Coach K: “We think everything’s going to be good, but he’ll be out for awhile… and he will not travel to Georgia Tech.”
— Duke Basketball (@DukeMBB) January 6, 2020
The injury happened with just under five minutes to play against the Maimi Hurricanes. The 6’6″ wing turned the ball over and reached in for a steal. He immediately pulled back and grabbed his injured right hand. He checked out after the next possession and did not check back in after that. It was clear that the wing had hurt his hand fairly badly in that incident.
The in-state prospect was a key rotation player for head coach Mike Krzyzewski and the Duke Blue Devils. Wendell Moore was averaging 7.4 points, 3.9 rebounds, and 2 assists per game. He was also shooting at a solid clip of 44.6 percent. The guard’s defense was also important to the team and included over one steal per game. Duke will need to decide who will get the 20 plus minutes that were allocated to Moore before his injury.
The freshman was a low-level five-star and was likely to come back for his sophomore season, but this injury could seal the decision for him to stay at Duke for at least one more season. The Blue Devils are currently ranked second in the AP Poll.
