Wendell Moore on Playing Point: "I Just Use the Voice in My Ear"

When Tre Jones went down in the first half of Duke’s win over Central Arkansas, backup point guard Jordan Goldwire was expected to run the team.

Coming out of halftime, however, after Jones had been ruled out for the rest of the night, Goldwire opened the second half on the bench. The job of running the offense fell to 6-foot-6 freshman forward Wendell Moore.

“I was kind of just trying to do my job,” he said, “keeping the team running, just using the voice in my ear and displaying that to the rest of the team.”

Moore ended up dishing out three assists, one fewer than Goldwire’s four. Playing the point was nothing new for him.

“I feel very comfortable doing that,” he said. “It’s kind of similar to what we were doing in practice with me and (Tre) on separate teams, with him running point guard on one and me running point guard. Also Jordan running point guard. With the three of us in the backcourt, we can all handle the ball very well.”

When Jones went down, Moore wasn’t sure if he’d get the call to play point or not.

“Without him on the floor, it kind of hurts us in very many ways,” he said. “The biggest thing he brings for us is leadership—not having that on the floor. Still, at the same time, we can hear him on the sideline. He’s always cheering us on, always there for us, always that leader for us. Not having him on the floor was different.”

“I honestly didn’t know what to expect from today, for real,” he said. “Tre going down kind of hurt us, but at the same time, I tried to step up and tried to take on the role as best I could.”

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