Duke Basketball: 5 Things on Blue Devils' Holiday Wish List

After playing nine games in a little more than three weeks, Duke is taking the first of two lengthy breaks before the preseason ends and the ACC slate begins in January. There are just two games between now and Dec. 28, a period when the Blue Devils will rest but also work on improving their play for the second half of the 2015-16 season.

Duke is 8-1 on the year, its only loss coming in the third game against Kentucky. Since then it has won six in a row by an average of 17.5 points, the last four by 23.8 points.

Things are going well, but they can always get better. Not everything is fixable through practice, though. If only there was a way to bestow gifts on the Blue Devils' program during the holiday season.

A Veteran Point Guard

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The only player on Duke's roster who is considered a true point guard is freshman Derryck Thornton. However, his play hasn't been consistent enough to warrant being a full-time starter or even getting a large number of minutes.

Thornton started three games in a six-day span, including against VCU and Georgetown, but after a poor performance against Yale—a game the Blue Devils trailed for much of the first half—he's seen his minutes shrink. It got down to a low of 16 minutes in the 94-74 win over Indiana, when he had 12 points but just one assist.

On Saturday, against Buffalo, Thornton played 24 minutes and recorded a career-high five assists and didn't commit a turnover for the first time in his career.

Until Thornton is deemed ready in coach Mike Krzyzewski's eyes, he's going to only get time when either junior Matt Jones or sophomore Grayson Allen isn't handling the position.

Improved Man-to-Man Defense

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Almost exclusively a man-to-man team, Duke has had to turn to zone defense in several games this season to help slow down opponents that are scoring too easily. It's paid off, but Krzyzewski would very much prefer to go back to his bread-and-butter and just zone for a possession or two.

Buffalo struggled the most of any team so far against the zone, and as a result it shot 33.3 percent overall and 21.7 from three-point range.

For the year, Duke is allowing opponents to shoot 43.4 percent overall and 35.7 percent from outside, giving up 69.3 points per game. Last year the Blue Devils allowed 42.2 percent and 31.4 percent, respectively, almost exclusively in man defense.

A Bottle of the Best Brandon Ingram

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The most highly regarded member of Duke's freshman class has been up and down over the first nine games of his career, looking pretty average at his worst and potentially dominating at his best. Which one is going to show up each game is anyone's guess.

But the 6'9” forward has been on an upswing as of late, possibly motivated by getting pulled from the starting lineup for two games.

The improvement hasn't just been on offense. The 47 points on 18-of-30 shooting the last two games has been great, but Brandon Ingram is starting to use his length better on the defensive end.

When he was struggling, Ingram almost looked bored on the court, like he was counting the days until he could declare for the NBA draft. The coaching staff must have lit a fire under him, because of late he's showing much more emotion and it's leading to better play.

More Frontcourt Depth

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Jahlil Okafor isn't walking through that door, but at this point any additional warm bodies up front would be helpful just to boost an area that Duke figured to have depth at before the season began. Instead, there are essentially three players splitting time at the two post position while the rest are just not involved.

Seniors Amile Jefferson and Marshall Plumlee have started every game, combining for 55 minutes per night. Freshman Chase Jeter is the next man up down low, yet he's only getting 8.1 minutes per game.

Ingram is best served at the three, though on occasion Duke puts him at power forward when going with a smaller lineup, so it's pretty much the Jefferson-and-Plumlee Show. That's because in addition to Jeter not coming along yet, transfer Sean Obi from Rice appears to not be in the mix.

The 6'9”, 270-pound sophomore who sat out the 2014-15 season yet got to practice against Okafor every day, has played a mere five minutes in two games. Freshman Antonio Vrankovic has nine minutes played in three games, while freshman Justin Robinson is redshirting this season.

One More Real Test Before ACC Play

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Duke's nonconference schedule is routinely a mix of challenging matchups and ones that will only cause trouble if the Blue Devils let them. That was the case with Yale, a solid mid-major team but not one that should have been able to hang with Duke, yet it played incredible in the first half a few weeks ago.

Since then it's been way too easy for Duke, even when Indiana came to town last week. This might have led to an uninspired performance in Saturday's win over Buffalo, when Duke won by 23 despite shooting only 32.3 percent in the first half and 40.7 percent overall.

This team needs to get pushed to the limit at least once more before getting into ACC play, just to make sure it's ready for the long haul. There are two strong candidates to provide this challenge, either the Dec. 19 game against Utah in New York City or the Dec. 30 visit from Long Beach State.

Follow Brian J. Pedersen on Twitter at @realBJP.