Wendell Moore Still "a Few Weeks" From Return

Wendell Moore Jr. broke a bone in his right hand during the Jan. 4 game at Miami and had surgery to repair it two days later. As Duke prepares for the rematch with Miami, at Cameron Indoor Stadium on Tuesday, Moore is still at least two weeks away from returning to the floor.

On the ACC Coaches Teleconference, Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said, “We hope that in a few weeks, in February, he'll be back with us. He's progressing well. He's not doing anything with his right hand, but he is staying in shape.”

Moore has been at recent Duke games wearing a large brace on the hand.

Moore was averaging 22.2 minutes before the injury and scoring 7.4 points, fifth on the team. He’s third on the team in assists, behind point guards Tre Jones and Jordan Goldwire and tied for fourth in rebounding average.

Duke has gone 2-2 in Moore’s absence. The Blue Devils are shooting six points lower (.478 from .484) from the field without him. Assists have fallen from 16.9 per game to 14.3, and the percentage of baskets assisted on has gone from 54.2 to 51.4.

Moore’s absence is felt even more on defense, where Coach K has said he’s capable of defending all five positions on the floor. In the games since Moore went down, Duke is allowing opponents to shoot .452 from the field and .387 from three. With Moore, Duke was allowing .395 and .255, respectively.

Duke has a home game against Miami this week. Next week, Duke hosts Pitt and travels to Syracuse. The following week has trips to Boston College and North Carolina. The next game, three weeks out from Krzyzewski’s “a few weeks” estimate, is at home against Florida State.