CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Darren Harris might be Duke basketball‘s breakout player this season, and heading into the season, he’s already earned another title: best shoe game on the team.
The 6-foot-5, 195-pound guard/forward out of Herndon, Virginia, is coming off a freshman season that saw him average 2.0 points and 1.1 rebounds, averaging 6.0 minutes in 21 games. He was a four-star prospect coming out of St. Paul VI Catholic High School, being the first player to commit in Duke‘s 2024 class.
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“I don’t think a lot of people are talking about Darren Harris,” junior guard Caleb Foster said at ACC Tipoff on Wednesday, Oct. 8. “He comes in and he works hard everyday. He developed. He keeps getting better and better.”
Fourth-year head coach Jon Scheyer echoed that sentiment at Duke’s annual media day on Sept. 24.
“I think that the guy that didn’t play as much last year that I think has had tremendous growth is Darren Harris,” Scheyer said. “You know, Darren is just being committed solely, just completely to Duke, to the process.”
Fans got their first glimpse of Harris during his sophomore campaign at the Blue Devils‘ annual Countdown to Craziness game on Friday, Oct. 3. He scored the first five of the White team’s points with a pull-up jump shot and corner trey, finishing the night with eight points, shooting 2-of-4 from the field and 1-of-3 from 3. He added two rebounds and an assist.
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He also won the 3-point contest before the scrimmage began, finishing with 27 points over Caleb Foster (23) and associate head coach Chris Carrawell (21).
“He’s a sharpshooter,” Foster said. “Everyday, he’s a sharpshooter for sure.”
He also made a statement off the court, showing up to the scrimmage in customized shoes, using a blue Sharpie to add color to his white Nike Foamposites.
“He bought the shoes that morning and when he got to the game that night he had blue on them,” senior forward Maliq Brown said at ACC Tipoff.
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Foster said Harris has the top shoe game on the team, with Brown coming in at second. Brown agreed.
“Darren’s shoe game, if it’s not the best I’ve seen, it’s definitely up there,” Brown said.
Duke will play a pair of exhibitions vs. UCF (Oct. 21) and at Tennessee (Oct. 26) before officially starting its season on Nov. 4 against Texas as the Spectrum Center in Charlotte. The Blue Devils are coming off a 35-4 finish in 2024-25 with a trip to the Final Four.
Anna Snyder covers Duke for The Fayetteville Observer as part of the USA TODAY Network. Reach her at asnyder@gannett.com or follow her @annaesnydr on X, formerly known as Twitter.
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This article originally appeared on The Fayetteville Observer: Darren Harris poised for breakout sophomore season with Duke basketball
