Joey Baker: The Game Has Slowed Down For Me

Sophomore has developed into a key contributor for Duke

After appearing in just a handful of games last season, Duke sophomore Joey Baker has developed into a key contributor on this year’s squad. How has that happened?

“Just working my butt off,” he said, “and listening to the coaches. They have my best interest, so just following their lead. They’ve been through Coach’s system and know what to expect, so just kind of following what they’re telling me to do. … I’ve put lot of work in since I arrived here last summer. It’s kind of just trusting that work. I think it’s a combination of coaches staying in my ear telling me to shoot and trusting the work I’ve put in.”

Baker also spent a lot of offseason effort improving.

“I’ve gotten a lot better in all the big areas,” he said. “Defense. I’ve added weight. I’ve added strength. I’m feeling more comfortable out there with knowing what to do and when to do it. They say the game slows down, and I think it has for me.”

Duke plays Wofford on Thursday night. The Terriers are coming off an upset of UNC, and Duke is taking them seriously.

“They’re a great program, and they’re a really good shooting team,” Baker said. “They have four guys that can space the floor, so we’ve been focusing on that a lot the past couple days in practice, just trying to prepare for that.”

It’s Duke’s first game in 13 days.

“It’s obviously unconventional with finals last week,” Baker said. “It’s a good change of pace. It’s an opportunity to get back in the gym and have some good practices, some hard practices that you’re not able to have in the thick of the season when you’re playing games every couple of days. I feel like we’ve definitely gotten better from this time off and then hopefully we’ll continue to do that once we get back from Christmas break.”