Whitehead makes collegiate debut in Duke win

Duke freshman star Dariq Whitehead scored 6 points off the bench in his college launching, assisting the Blue Devils beat Delaware 92-58 on Friday night.Whitehead had not

played yet this season after undergoing surgery on his ideal foot in late August. He shot 3-for-11 from the field and included 2 rebounds in 15 minutes of action off the bench.A flexible 6-foot-7 wing, Whitehead was the No. 2 recruit in the ESPN 100 last spring and is a predicted lottery game pick in ESPN’s most current NBA draft rankings. He was called the Naismith High School Player of the Year and made MVP honors at the McDonald’s All American Video game. Whitehead also helped lead Montverde Academy( Florida)to successive championship games as a junior and senior. After opening the season with wins over Jacksonville and USC Upstate, Duke suffered its first loss of the season to Kansas on Tuesday at the Champions Classic. The Blue Devils shot 3-for-21 from 3-point range and had just 8 assists to 18 turnovers. As soon as Whitehead is totally healthy, he needs to assist in both areas– and is likely to allow Jon Scheyer to utilize a more standard beginning five with Whitehead on the wing and Kyle Filipowski and Dereck Lively or Mark Mitchell down low.Lively was likewise hurt for the latter part of the preseason, however he returned versus USC Upstate. The No. 1 possibility in the ESPN 100, Lively has yet to begin a game for Duke

this season.