Duke men's basketball Player of the Week: Week 6

Luke Kennard

The statline:

Tuesday vs. Georgia Southern: 11 points on 4-of-13 shooting, five rebounds and two assists in 29 minutes

Saturday vs. Utah: 24 points on 5-of-9 shooting, eight rebounds, one steal and 12-of-13 free-throw shooting in 27 minutes

The good: Despite struggling to find his shot, Kennard has made his mark felt on every game this season. Against Georgia Southern, the freshman missed his first six shots, but slowly worked himself into a rhythm of offense by getting a couple of easy scores near the end of the first half. The guard followed that up Saturday with one of his best performances of the season as his aggression attacking the hoop got him to the foul line at will and helped provide a scoring boost for a struggling Duke offense. The freshman also helped clean up misses on the glass this past week and has shown his ability to affect the game on defense as well with his relentless motor.

The bad: Known as a knock-down perimeter shooter entering college, the freshman has been far from it thus far this season. Kennard is shooting just 39 percent from the field and an even lower 27 person from beyond the arc. Although the guard has shown flashes of the shooting stroke that college coaches fell in love with when recruiting him, Kennard will need to shoot the ball more consistently from deep for the Blue Devils to take the next step as a team.

The bottom line: Kennard is sure to get extra minutes with the injury to senior Amile Jefferson and will need to capitalize on them. The freshman has brought tremendous energy to both ends of the court and has been an instant spark plug off head coach Mike Krzyzewski's bench all season. At 6-foot-5, the Franklin, Ohio native has the size to make life  difficult for opposing guards and Kennard can use his size to get to the hoop against smaller defenders. As the coaching staff patiently waits for the freshman to find his stroke at the college level, Kennard can continue to help the Blue Devils on offense by attacking the hoop and getting to the foul line, where he has shot 94 percent this season.

Honorable mention: Brandon Ingram had another solid week of play and appears to have fully made the transition to the college game. Although the freshman still doesn't have the physicality of others at his position, Ingram's versatility has made him a dangerous weapon for the Duke offense. The Kinston, N.C., native continues to score both with perimeter jump-shots and array of moves close to hoop. Even though Ingram's week will likely be remembered for his point-blank miss that could've sent Saturday's game to double overtime, the freshman is trending upward as conference play approaches.