Duke Basketball: Each Starter's Biggest Area of Improvement in 2015-16

The Duke Blue Devils are using an extremely limited rotation of players this season, which puts a premium on their main contributors finding ways to improve their game as the year progresses. Despite the extended minutes that all six top Blue Devils are logging, they have all found a way to make themselves better than they were in November.

It wasn't so much that they had glaring weaknesses when the 2015-16 season began, but over the course of time they've found ways to address areas that could stand to get better. Here's a look at where each of Duke's five starters has improved the most over the past three months.

Grayson Allen

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Passing

As a little-used freshman, when point guard Grayson Allen got into the game he was quick to drive and shoot but not pass, opting to keep it himself rather than share the ball.

Flash forward to this season and, in addition to being Duke's leading scorer at 20.5 points per game, Allen is also tops on the Blue Devils with 75 assists. His assist percentage of 20.4 percent also leads the team, despite taking more shots than any other player on the roster.

Allen is coming off a performance at the North Carolina State Wolfpack that shows how much he's able to contribute both as a scorer and distributor. He had 28 points on 11-of-17 shooting, his most points since Dec. 30, while also recording a career-high seven assists.

Brandon Ingram

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Defense

No Duke player has transformed his game more from the beginning of this season to now than forward Brandon Ingram, who looked completely disinterested early on and now is arguably the team's top player. The improvements have occurred all over the court for the 6'9" freshman, but no more so than on defense.

For starters, he's actually trying on defense, which wasn't the case during the first month or two. He was a liability early on, and now that he's learned to make the most of his impressive wingspan, he has become a defensive force.

Ingram leads Duke in steals with 28, and his 31 blocks are second behind Marshall Plumlee's 38. Most of those have come since he was moved to the 4 following senior Amile Jefferson's injury during a Dec. 12 practice, and though he's not as adept a rebounder as Jefferson was, he has upped his average to 6.3 per game by grabbing 7.7 per contest since Jefferson went down.

Matt Jones

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Leadership

Duke's rotation includes four guards, three of whom are either freshmen or in their first season of heavy use in the program. That's put an emphasis on junior Matt Jones to perform well on the court but also serve as the mentor to his young backcourt mates.

It's a role similar to the one Quinn Cook took on in 2014-15, helping guide freshman Tyus Jones by example and through encouragement, and now Jones is doing the same with freshmen Luke Kennard and Derryck Thornton and sophomore Grayson Allen.

Jones is third on the team in scoring at 12.5 points per game, but over his last four outings he's averaged 6.8 points on 29 percent shooting. However, his dip in numbers hasn't taken away from the guidance he's providing.

Luke Kennard

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Efficiency

A prolific scorer in high school, Luke Kennard finished second in Ohio prep history and just ahead of future NBA Hall of Famer LeBron James in points. But in his first few college games, the freshman guard was basically a jump shooter...and not a particularly accurate one.

Kennard attempted 61 three-pointers and 45 two-pointers during Duke's 13 nonconference games, and he was shooting just 38.7 percent overall and 29.5 percent from outside. His three-point efficiency hasn't improved, but with a greater emphasis on taking the ball to the basket he's shot 46.8 percent from the field in ACC play.

By driving and becoming more aggressive, Kennard is getting to the line where he's almost automatic. A 92.6 percent foul shooter, he's made 21 of 23 free throws in league play.

Marshall Plumlee

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Endurance

For the first three seasons of his Duke career, Marshall Plumlee's contributions on the court consisted mostly of providing frontcourt starters with a breather or playing garbage minutes at the end. Now that he's the Blue Devils' full-time center, there's rarely someone coming in to give him a break.

It took the 7'0" senior a while to get used to this elevated workload, which has called for him to play almost as many minutes this season (576 through 20 games) as he did in his first three seasons at Duke combined (678 in 88 games). The 28.8 minutes per game are triple his junior activity, and in seven ACC contests he's averaging 36 minutes.

Plumlee looked winded at times during the nonconference schedule, but knowing that there's no one coming in for more than a minute or two—backups Chase Jeter and Sean Obi have logged a combined 31 minutes in ACC play—he's learned to pace himself and increase his stamina.

Follow Brian J. Pedersen on Twitter at @realBJP.