Report: Duke’s Alex O’Connell Enters NCAA Transfer Portal After Junior Season

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Alex O'Connell is reportedly looking for a fresh start next season after spending three seasons playing at Duke. 

Per ESPN's Jeff Borzello, the junior guard is entering the NCAA transfer portal. 

O'Connell has primarily been a role player off the bench for head coach Mike Krzyzewski since arriving at Duke for the 2017-18 season.

Last November, Krzyzewski told Sports Illustrated‘s Shawn Krest one reason O'Connell struggled in his first two seasons was because of the pressure he put on himself:

“In our game, you can't get hard on yourself. After the game, if you feel like you didn't play well, do extra and all that. But during the game, there's no time to think about what you've just done. It's a continuous game. It favors the continuous thinker. You can't live in the last play. That's all I was telling him. ‘Do not live in last play. Next play. Next play.' And that's how you become really good player. He is a good player. He has chance to be a real good player, and he's doing a good job for us.”

There were high expectations for O'Connell coming out of Milton High School three years ago. The Georgia native was rated as a 4-star prospect and No. 68 overall player in the 2017 class by 247Sports composite rankings. 

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The 2019-20 campaign was O'Connell's most productive as a college player. He averaged 5.2 points and 2.2 rebounds per contest in 29 games (six starts). His shooting struggled with career lows in field-goal percentage (40.5) and three-point percentage (27.3). 

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