X-Factor: Duke men's basketball must lean on Whitehead's sharpshooting against Louisville

As Duke men's basketball turns its sights to its upcoming Monday night Louisville game, the Blue Zone takes a look at a potential difference-maker from each side:

Duke: Dariq Whitehead 

Duke has not had much success on the road this season — but when the Blue Devils traveled to Boston in early January, Dariq Whitehead proved that the travel day does not slow him down. The freshman led both teams in scoring with 18 points, 13 of which came in the first half, and took control of the ball while his captain Jeremy Roach had to sit out with a toe injury. The freshman landed four threes and shot 50% from the field in Conte Forum. Despite the small margin of victory against Boston College, Whitehead's breakthrough performance was critical to the ACC victory. 

Whitehead, in his gradual return from a lower left leg sprain, made a notable impact against another ACC opponent, Notre Dame. The 6-foot-7 forward shot 3-for-4 from beyond the arc and grabbed three boards. Most recently, Whitehead played a critical role in Duke’s destruction of Syracuse on Saturday evening. He shot 4-of-6 from three and tallied a total of 14 points off the bench. If Whitehead can find some consistency while leaving the injuries behind, the Blue Devils should be able to secure the home win. 

Louisville: El Ellis

Despite its poor 4-23 overall record, in the last 10 days Louisville was able to beat Clemson and keep its contests against No. 15 Miami and No. 7 Virginia close, in large part due to El Ellis. The senior dropped 33 points against the Hurricanes, 21 against the Cavaliers and 28 against the Tigers, accounting for more than a third of the Cardinals’ points in each game. In Louisville’s first win of the season against Western Kentucky, Ellis put up 30 points and 10 assists to finally put his team in the win column. The 6-foot-3 guard is averaging 18.0 points a game this season, a significant jump from his 2021-2022 average of 8.7. 

Last season, in Duke’s 74-65 defeat of the Cardinals, Ellis led his team in scoring with 18 points and often shifted the momentum towards Louisville, bringing the Duke lead into contention. 

Though the Cardinals sit at the bottom of the ACC with a conference record of 2-14, Ellis — a Durham native — has proved to be the star of this team, even to higher ranked opponents.